SB 02.09.04 atma-tattva-visuddhy-artham... cited

Expressions researched:
"atma-tattva-visuddhy-artham" |"avyalika-vratadrtah" |"brahmane darsayan rupam" |"yad aha bhagavan rtam"

SB Canto 2

SB 2.9.4, Translation and Purport:

O King, the Personality of Godhead, being very much pleased with Lord Brahmā because of his nondeceptive penance in bhakti-yoga, presented His eternal and transcendental form before Brahmā. And that is the objective goal for purifying the conditioned soul.

Ātma-tattva is the science of both God and the living entity. Both the Supreme Lord and the living entity are known as ātmā. The Supreme Lord is called Paramātmā, and the living entity is called the ātmā, the brahma or the jīva. Both the Paramātmā and the jīvātmā, being transcendental to the material energy, are called ātmā. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains this verse with the aim of purifying the truth of both the Paramātmā and the jīvātmā. Generally people have many wrong conceptions about both of them. The wrong conception of the jīvātmā is to identify the material body with the pure soul, and the wrong conception of Paramātmā is to think Him on an equal level with the living entity. But both misconceptions can be removed by one stroke of bhakti-yoga, just as in the sunlight both the sun and the world and everything within the sunlight are properly seen. In the darkness one cannot see the sun, nor himself, nor the world. But in the sunlight one can see the sun, himself and the world around him. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī therefore says that for purification of both wrong conceptions, the Lord presented His eternal form before Brahmājī, being fully satisfied by Brahmā's nondeceptive vow of discharging bhakti-yoga. Except for bhakti-yoga, any method for realization of ātma-tattva, or the science of ātmā, will prove deceptive in the long run.

In the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that only by bhakti-yoga can one know Him perfectly, and then one can enter into the science of God. Brahmājī undertook great penance in performing bhakti-yoga, and thus he was able to see the transcendental form of the Lord. His transcendental form is one hundred percent spiritual, and one can see Him only by spiritualized vision after proper discharge of tapasya or penance, in pure bhakti-yoga. The form of the Lord manifested before Brahmā is not one of the forms with which we have experience in the material world. Brahmājī did not perform such severe types of penance just to see a form of material production. Therefore the question by Mahārāja Parīkṣit about the form of the Lord is answered. The form of the Lord is sac-cid-ānanda (Bs. 5.1), or eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. But the material form of the living being is neither eternal, nor full of knowledge, nor blissful. That is the distinction between the form of the Lord and that of the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul, however, can regain his form of eternal knowledge and bliss simply by seeing the Lord by means of bhakti-yoga.

The summary is that due to ignorance the conditioned soul is encaged in the temporary varieties of material forms. But the Supreme Lord has no such temporary form like the conditioned souls. He is always possessed of an eternal form of knowledge and bliss, and that is the difference between the Lord and the living entity. One can understand this difference by the process of bhakti-yoga. Brahmā was then told by the Lord the gist of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in four original verses. Thus Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not a creation of the mental speculators. The sound of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is transcendental, and the resonance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is as good as that of the Vedas. Thus the topic of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the science of both the Lord and the living entity. Regular reading or hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is also performance of bhakti-yoga, and one can attain the highest perfection simply by the association of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Both Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit attained perfection through the medium of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:

Prabhupāda: ...gata-sammohas tyaktvodāste tadobhayam. So chant this verse, beginning from... Practice.

Karandhara: Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam.

Prabhupāda: Brahmaṇe darśayan. Darśayan. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ. Go on reading.

Karandhara: Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. (devotees chant śloka with Śrīla Prabhupāda correcting)

Prabhupāda: You try to follow the transcription because you do not know devanāgarī alphabet. When there is chanting you follow the transcription.

ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-arthaṁ

yad āha bhagavān ṛtam

brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam

avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ

(SB 2.9.4)

So read every verse. Practice it. Give everyone. (break) Purification means that one will be able to see God face to face. That is purification. Just like in the sky, as soon as the cloud is moved, dissipated, you can see the sun immediately. This is the process. God is everywhere, within and without. So why He is not seen? Because our senses are not perfect. God is everywhere. They say, "Oh, why you are going to temple. God is everywhere," as if he has seen God. These rascals say like that. "What is the use of going to temple? God is everywhere." Have you seen? No one has. You see?(?) Is it not, sometimes they say?

Sudāmā: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: If God is everywhere, why not in the temple? These are the atheistic proposal. If God is everywhere, so why not in the temple? In the temple I can see God, at least. The form of God, it is being worshiped, offered prasādam. So there is a spiritual atmosphere. So why shall I not go to the temple? So actually God is everywhere. That's a fact. But so long I am not purified, I have to see God as they are prescribed in the śāstra. Here the Deity, He is God, but because I have no power to see God, therefore I see that "Oh, it is made of wood. It is made of metal." That is my imperfect senses (perception?). But God is there also. God is everywhere, so God is here also. Why you are talking of metal and wood? From reasoning, argument, if God is everywhere, why not He is in the metal or wood? In your eyes it is metal, but we see God. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as soon as saw Jagannātha, He fainted. Therefore viśuddhy-artham. Ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artham.

So we have to learn how to purify our senses. Then we can see God everywhere. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). Brahma-saṁhitā. Premāñjana-cchurita. When we develop love of God, prema añjana, that ointment... Just like we apply some ointment to the eyes to make it clear—our vision becomes clearer—similarly, there is ointment which is called love of Godhead. If we develop that love of Godhead, so by that ointment, when our imperfect eyes will be cleansed, then we can see God. This is the process. Ātma-tattva. So ātma-tattva viśuddhy-artham. Ātma-tattva. Yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. So the beginning of purification is first of all to understand "what I am. Am I this body or something else?" Ātma-tattva. If we can understand "myself, what I am," then I can understand God also. Or if I can understand God, then I can understand me also. Just like if you see the sun, you can see yourself also. In the darkness you cannot see yourself, neither the sun.

So that is called ātma-tattva. Light. At night, darkness, dense darkness, you cannot see anything. I am walking in the dark, but I cannot see my hands and legs, where I am going. I am afraid: "Whether I shall fall into some ditch?" This is my position. Therefore it has to be purified. Ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-arthaṁ yad āha bhagavān ṛtam: "Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality, as He says..." So therefore we have to cleanse ourself, viśuddhy-artha. In order to cleanse, we have to hear from Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is coming. Out His causeless mercy He is coming to reveal Himself, Kṛṣṇa: "It is like this. I am like this. You are like this." Both things. First, beginning, Kṛṣṇa said, "You are not this body." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca... (BG 2.11). "Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man, but you do not know what you are—not this body. You are not this body. Why you are lamenting for this body, your body and your brother's body, your grandfather's body, your children's body? But you are not body."

Therefore, in the first chastisement, Kṛṣṇa was accepted as spiritual master. A spiritual master has the right to chastise. Father, spiritual master, they are advised to chastise. Putraṁ ca śiṣyaṁ ca tāḍayen na tu lālayet. So father and teacher is advised by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita that "You should always chastise your son and disciple. Chastise." Tāḍayet. Tāḍayet means "Simply chastise. Always find out mistake." Don't be angry, but it is the business of the teacher and the father simply to find out your mistakes, not to find out your good things. Tāḍayen na tu lālayet. Lālayet means patting: "Oh, my dear son, my dear boy, you are so nice. You have done..." Sometimes it is done, but it is the business of the teacher and the father to chastise. Never recognize the disciple's business or son's business as very good. Then they will spoil. That is the injunction of Cāṇakya Muni. Lālane bahavo doṣāḥ: "If you simply pat, then there will be so many faults." Lālane bahavo doṣāḥ. Doṣāḥ means faults. Tāḍane bahavo guṇāḥ: "And if you chastise, oh, they will be very much qualified." Tāḍane bahavo guṇāḥ, tasmāt: therefore, putraṁ ca śiṣyaṁ ca tāḍayen na tu lālayet, "simply chastise. Don't pat." This is the injunction, moral injunction. So, so far we are concerned, when our spiritual master used to chastise, we took it as blessing. That was very nice. And he would chastise like anything. "Damn rascal, foolish, stupid," anything, all good words. (laughter)

Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:

So ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artha. So we should not be very much attached for the benefit of this body. We must purify. Ātmā, ātma-tattva... Ātmā is sometimes... In Sanskrit language, ātmā is meant the body, the mind and the soul. So ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artha: "In order to find out what is pure ātmā..." Now ātmā is covered with the subtle body and the gross body. So we should analyze whether this gross body is ātmā or the subtle body is ātmā. So they do not know, the modern civilization. The karmīs, they are accepting this gross body as ātmā, the gross body as ātmā, or the subtle body. The jñānīs, they are accepting mind, intelligence, as ātmā. But ātmā is above. Therefore we have to purify the idea of ātma-tattvam. Ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artham. Ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artham. Yad āha. So we have to hear from authorities, from Bhagavān. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ. Because Brahmā underwent great tapasya for hundreds of years, so, being pleased upon Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa, Lord Kṛṣṇa, explained to him this ātma-tattva.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

Prabhupāda: ...darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ. He manifested His form to Brahmā. That means God is not formless. If He is formless then how He could show His form? Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka. Avyalīka means without any cheating. Where is avyalīka? "Without any deceptive motive." So those who have realized impersonal form, not form, impersonal feature, they are cheated. They do not know actually what is God, what is the Absolute Truth. Avyalīka-vrata. And why Brahmā was favored to see the form of the Lord? Because he underwent severe tapasya, vow, worship. So God, or the Absolute Truth, is not formless. He has his form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). But that can be seen only by persons who underwent severe austerities, penances, or engaged in devotion. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Otherwise, they will remain impersonal. The conclusion is, those who are impersonalists, their knowledge is imperfect. They have still to go forward.

Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many, many births of continued impersonal views, when he actually comes to the right platform of knowledge, he surrenders to Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ: (BG 7.19) "That mahātmā, that saintly person, is very rare." All the so-called swamis or yogis, they are all impersonalists. Therefore our swamis, they are very rare. They are not ordinary, these so-called swamis and yogis because they know the personal feature of God.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

But we have to know actually from authentic śāstra what is the actual thing. Śāstra-cakṣusā. You don't see with your, these blunt eyes, rascal eyes We see through the śāstras. That should be. That is real knowledge. What is our capacity of these eyes, these senses? They are all imperfect. So whatever knowledge you gather, the so-called scientists, they are all imperfect. Real perfect knowledge is here, Veda. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. Therefore you should see through the Vedic version what is actually the fact. So the living entities, sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means a living entity can enter anywhere, and the material function is there. Just like we say "The point has no length, no breadth." Why? But I can see point. Why length and...? "I have no instrument to measure it." That you say. You cannot say there is no length and breadth. You have no instrument to measure what is the length and breadth of the point. You say...

Similarly you cannot understand what is the form of God. You say, "Oh, God is false." But from the śāstra we can understand. Here it is said that rūpaṁ sa ādi-devo jagatāṁ paro guruḥ. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. So if God has no form, how He showed His form to Brahmā? He has form. Brahmā has attained the perfection to see the form of God, and the rascals who have no such perfection, they say "No form." That is the position. They, with their imperfect senses, all rascal theories, they are thinking that they have become perfect. But they are not perfect. First thing is that the senses with which you are studying, they are imperfect. What is the value of our eyes? Unless there is sunlight, you cannot see. So how can you say that "Our seeing is absolute"? It is relative. So whatever knowledge we are getting, they're all relative knowledge. Relative means according to my power I am studying, "This is this. This is this." But they are all wrong. You do not know what is actually the position. Therefore the conclusion is that we have to take knowledge from the perfect. Śāstra-cakṣusā. Your eyes should be... Actually we are doing that. Now, directly we are seeing the sun. We see just like the disk. But when you go through scientific books, geographic and other authorit..., astronomy, they, "No, the sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet." So actually we are understanding about the sun not by our direct eyes but through the authoritative knowledge, through the śāstra, through the books.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

Śruti-pramāṇam. That is evidence, śruti-pramāṇam. Śruti means Veda. In the Vedas it is stated... Just like Brahmā. He is receiving Vedic knowledge from, directly from God, Kṛṣṇa. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. This is the process of understanding. Brahmā, how Brahmā is receiving knowledge? Directly he sees there is nobody there, but he is receiving knowledge. Directly he could not see. Upāśṛṇot, upāśṛṇot. Upāśṛṇot: "He simply heard." Upāśṛṇot. Ear, not the eyes. So therefore knowledge has to be gathered by aural reception, not by the eyes. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that, "Do not try to see a saintly person. You try to hear a saintly person." If you see a long beard and very strong man, he is a great sādhu. Oh. That's it." No. You have to hear. What does he speak? Then you understand. Upāśṛṇot. Divyaṁ sahasrābdam. Then?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Pradyumna:

sa tayā śraddhayā yuktas

tasyārādhanam īhate

labhate ca tataḥ kāmān

mayaiva vihitān hi tān

Prabhupāda: That also kāmān. Whatever benediction they get, that is sanctioned by Kṛṣṇa. They cannot give it independently. You can keep it here. These six volumes are already published.

Ambassador: Oh, I see, Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: But, uh, no, this is Bhāgavatam.

Ambassador: Śrī Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Similar, another fifty-four volumes is to be published.

Ambassador: Oh, it's a tremendous undertaking.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Ambassador: Whatever might be the difference of opinion about the, you know, the subtleties, you see, this itself is very great.

Prabhupāda: And we have given each meaning of... You can see the Sanskrit verse, how we have explained. Here and in America especially, as soon as they see, they purchase the whole set. Six copies. See.

Ambassador: Beautiful. Very, very elegant English also. (Reads Sanskrit verse:) Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ. And then you, you make it easy. Actually, it's...

Prabhupāda: Transliteration also.

Ambassador: ...It's for students also.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Transliteration.

Ambassador: Yes. Transliteration and then (Sanskrit) and then...

Prabhupāda: Translation.

Ambassador: Viccheda. How long will Your Divine Grace be here?

Prabhupāda: Four days?

Haṁsadūta: It's on the 11th. Eleventh morning we're leaving, back to London.

Ambassador: Back to London. And you'll be visiting only Sweden this time?

Haṁsadūta: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ambassador: Not Copenhagen or Oslo?

Haṁsadūta: No.

Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda attem... He traveled to Paris, and also, previously, to Amsterdam and Germany, in years previously.

Ambassador: This temple is going to be a permanent situation, this particular building, or...?

Paramahaṁsa: Yes.

Ambassador: Or somewhere.

Paramahaṁsa: In the beginning stage, yes.

Ambassador: Yes, then you'll have to locate something.

Prabhupāda: So practically single-handed I am trying to give this original Indian culture to the world. And nobody's helping me. Neither, if some rich man wants to help me, government will not allow to help me.

Ambassador: Oh, yes, especially...

Prabhupāda: Now just like Sir Padampat Singhania of Kanpur, he promised that, "You just construct a nice temple in New York." He wanted to give the money. The government will not allow.

Ambassador: Oh, foreign exchange.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not allow. I made correspondence with the government. The last reply was that "You can raise fund locally, but you cannot take money from here." Now who will pay...? Of course, these boys are paying me. We are getting... Now recently, one boy, you know his name, George Harrison. He's a very famous singer.

Ambassador: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So he has purchased for me one house, fifty-five lakhs worth. But what, no Indian could help me. At two hundred and twenty thousand pounds. So it is equivalent to fifty-five lakhs.

Ambassador: But I'm told that you have fifty-five temples in the west...

Prabhupāda: No, why fifty? More than fifty... In U.S.A. we have got about fifty temples. And Australia, also, we have got five temples. And Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and...

Paramahaṁsa: Perth.

Prabhupāda: Perth. And Darwin.

Ambassador: Darwin also.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And we had very gorgeous Ratha-yātrā ceremony in Australia. In London also. You know that? Ten thousand people participated, and we distributed prasādam.

Ambassador: On the 12th you'll have it in London.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Ambassador: This big meeting will be in London, on the 12th.

Haṁsadūta: That is another meeting. Our Ratha-yātrā is held on July 8th in London.

Ambassador: Yes, that's right.

Haṁsadūta: July 8th. And simultaneously in San Francisco and in Sydney, all over the world.

Prabhupāda: And during Janmāṣṭamī, the...

Ambassador: Ah, Janmāṣṭamī.

Prabhupāda: The, the ambassador, Mr. Rasagotra...

Ambassador: Rasagotra.

Prabhupāda: He came. He's very nice man.

Ambassador: Yes. He suffered, you know.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Ambassador: In personal life also, he has suffered.

Prabhupāda: One of his sons died.

Ambassador: That's what I was telling. He's a very good man. His wife is also coming from a very religious family, like what your grace said, you know. His wife's grandfather was one of the real sādhus, you see. He lived in a... He was a Jat, but he was also a yogi.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Ambassador: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Our history, we find so many gṛhasthas, householder, kings, rājarṣi. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Rājā, king, at the same time, ṛṣi. This was the king. Just like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Rājarṣi. He's a king, but ṛṣi. You read that portion. Yes. The government of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, how they were happy, just see. Kāmam, kāmaṁ vavarṣa parjanyaḥ (SB 1.10.4). Parjanya. Parjanya means cloud, yes. Kāmaṁ vavarṣa parjanyaḥ (SB 1.10.4). The, all our necessities come from the rain. Now there is scarcity of rain. What the government can do or the scientists can do? And if there is no rain, then all your plan is finished.

Ambassador: Yes, that's true.