SB 07.07.28 tasmad bhavadbhih kartavyam... cited

Expressions researched:
"bija-nirharanam yogah" |"karmanam tri-gunatmanam" |"pravahoparamo dhiyah" |"tasmad bhavadbhih kartavyam"

SB Canto 7

SB 7.7.28, Translation and Purport:

Therefore, my dear friends, O sons of the demons, your duty is to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which can burn the seed of fruitive activities artificially created by the modes of material nature and stop the flow of the intelligence in wakefulness, dreaming and deep sleep. In other words, when one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his ignorance is immediately dissipated.

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26):

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman." By the practice of bhakti-yoga, one immediately comes to the spiritual platform, transcendental to the actions and reactions of the three modes of material nature. The root of ignorance is material consciousness, which must be killed by spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The word bīja-nirharaṇam refers to burning the root cause of material life to ashes. In the Medinī dictionary, yoga is explained by its result: yoge 'pūrvārtha-samprāptau saṅgati-dhyāna-yuktiṣu. When one is put into an awkward position because of ignorance, the process by which one can be freed from this entanglement is called yoga. This is also called liberation. Muktir hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). Mukti means giving up one's position in ignorance or illusion, by which one thinks in a way contrary to his constitutional position. Returning to one's constitutional position is called mukti, and the process by which one does this is called yoga. Thus yoga is above karma, jñāna and sāṅkhya. Indeed, yoga is the ultimate goal of life. Kṛṣṇa therefore advised Arjuna to become a yogī (tasmād yogī bhavārjuna). Lord Kṛṣṇa further advised in Bhagavad-gītā that the first-class yogī is he who has come to the platform of devotional service.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ

mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ

sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

"Of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all." (BG 6.47) Thus one who always thinks of Kṛṣṇa within the core of his heart is the best yogī. By practicing this best of all yoga systems, one is liberated from the material condition.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 7.7.25-28 -- San Francisco, March 13, 1967:

We are executing the will of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who takes up this responsibility of spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, he is very dear to Me." Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' sarva deśa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also Kṛṣṇa in the form of devotee. He said that "By My order, you become a spiritual master." "Oh, I have to become a spiritual master? What I have to do? Oh, I have no qualification." "Oh, you don't require any qualification." "Then what is to do?" Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "Whomever you meet, you just try to give him some instruction of Kṛṣṇa." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you cannot do, if you cannot speak on Bhagavad-gītā or Bhāgavata or Bible or Koran—they're all books of knowledge, of Kṛṣṇa consciousness—you can simply say, "My dear friend, I've got one request to you." "What is that?" "Oh, please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Is it very difficult? But this is very difficult also, because people will take it very lightly: "Oh, what is there, Hare Kṛṣṇa?" because he does not know that the Hare Kṛṣṇa has so much potency that one day you can catch the Supreme Personality of Godhead within your grip. It is got so potency, so much. But he will say, "Oh, what is this nonsense, Hare Kṛṣṇa? You chant. I don't like it." But it is your duty. He may take it or not take it. If you ask somebody, "My dear friend, please once chant Hare Kṛṣṇa," that is your duty finished. He may accept or not accept—that doesn't matter. You have finished your spiritual mastership. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' sarva deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Yāre dekha tāre kaha... There is no question of who he is, what he is, where he is born, whether he is civilized, uncivilized, capitalist, communist or this or that, Indian, American, African. Never mind. Whatever he is, simply request him, "Oh, please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Do yourself, chanting, and this will make you advanced, and the friend you meet, oh, he'll someday, because the, if he takes Even if he does not say, if he simply understands that "Here is something," and says, "Yes, it is very nice. It is very nice," then also, he gets the result.

tasmād bhavadbhiḥ kartavyaṁ

karmaṇāṁ tri-guṇātmanām

bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ

pravāhoparamo dhiyaḥ

(SB 7.6.28)

If you... Always remember that Prahlāda Mahārāja was talking with his child friends. So he says, tasmād bhavadbhiḥ kartavyam: "My dear friends, therefore it is your duty..." Kartavyaṁ karmaṇāṁ tri-guṇātmanām, tri-guṇātmanām... "Now, these activities of three material qualities, or material activities," bīja-nirharaṇam, "the seed of these material activities, you should crush it." Seed. There is a seed. Just like there is a seed, and so along the seed will remain... Just like you have seen in the fall season, so many creepers, they appear to be dried. There is no leaf. It almost dead. But as soon as the spring comes, oh, there is green leaf again. Why? The seed is there. Sometimes in India they set fire because it is very hot climate, so when there is no rainy season and by..., the sun is always bright there, so all these small plants, except big trees, they become dried up, and the cultivators, they set fire, and it becomes manure. But what is the fire? In the fire the outer portion is burned, but the seed is there. The next rainy season, again they awaken. Again there is, again green, again dry, again set fire, again green. Why? Now, seed is there. Seed is there. What is that seed? Bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ. You are trying to practice yoga, but you do not know how to crush the seed of material life. That is... This is bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The more you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, that seed, that material... What is that material seed? The material seed that "I want to lord it over everything, all resources." This is struggle. Everyone is trying. What is economic development or, what is called, the exact technical word? In a country... Undeveloped. Undeveloped country, and to develop. So what is this development? Development means to lord it over these material resources. That is the seed. That is the seed. Everyone is thinking that "I am the monarch of all I survey. Whatever I am seeing, I shall be the monarch. I shall be a Rockefeller. I shall be a Ford. I shall be this. I shall be that." But what is this "I shall be"? For few years I shall be like this, and then, according to my karma, according to my work, I'll leave this body here. I take another body, the "I shall be" finished.

So therefore we are simply wasting our time, simply wasting, asat, simply wasting our time. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "It is your duty, my dear boys." Bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ pravāhoparamo dhiyaḥ: "So you just kill, destroy the seed and..., so that no more it will become green after getting some water." There are another example. They are called in India moya carpaka(?). Carpaka means bed bug. And I do not know what is the condition here. In India, the bed bug, they, during the winter season, you'll find just like a simple skin only, nothing. There is nothing. But as soon as the summer season comes, oh, they bite the bodies and become red, fatty, immediately. So similarly, sometimes we may become just like a skin, and as soon as there is a drop of water and a little impetus for material enjoyment, oh, we become immediately... So this is seed. So seed should be destroyed. What is that seed? How it can be destroyed? Now, I am thinking that "I am master." I have to think that "I am servant." That's all. I am thinking, "I am master of this material world." I have to think that "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." That's all; nothing more.

Lecture on SB 7.7.25-28 -- San Francisco, March 13, 1967:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this chanting of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, being engaged fully in the service of Kṛṣṇa, will gradually revive your pure consciousness, and you'll know, and you'll feel jolly. You'll feel jolly. Now we are serving. We are already serving. Now we are serving the cats and dogs and motorcar and this and that, so many things. Servant we are, because constitutionally I am servant. And because I am not servant of God or servant of Kṛṣṇa, that I have become servant of my dog. In the morning I go with my dog. The dog says, "Yes, stand up here." "Yes, I am standing." "Let me pass my stool." "Yes, my dear sir. It is very nice." So I am servant. But I have no shame that I have become servant of dog and I'm refuse to (be) servant of God. Such a foolish we are. You see? So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "Just change this kindly. Don't become any more servant of..." Servant of dog means servant of your senses. That's all. We are here all servant of senses. That's all. A swami means master of the senses. "Oh, sense wants? Oh, my tongue wants immediately to smoke? There is some sensation. Oh, I must say, 'No. There is no smoking. Stop.' " Then you are master. And if you have become servant, "Oh, I want. Will you kindly give me a cigarette?" Because I am servant of cigarette. So you have to train yourself to become swami, master of your senses. Then everything is all right. Don't be servant of your senses. Servant you are. Just change your servitorship. Instead of becoming servant of senses, just become the servant of the master of the senses. The master of senses is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He is called Hṛṣīkeśa. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness means hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Devotional service means to serve the master of the senses with your purified senses. That's all. You haven't got to stop your sensual activities, but now you are serving the senses by the dictation of the senses. Now, while you will serve the master of the senses, then your perfection will come.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja is advising, "My dear boyfriends," tad bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ, "you practice yoga just to become master of your senses." Not that officially I sit down, fifteen minutes' meditation, and next moment I am master of my senses. This is not yoga. Here it is called bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ. Just practice such kind of yoga by which you can kill the seed of your servant of this material world.

Lecture on SB 7.7.28, 32-35 -- Mombassa, September 11, 1971:

Prabhupāda: ...how to make progress in bhakti-yoga, or bīja-nirharaṇam. I have explained several times, bīja-nirharaṇam (SB 7.7.28). There is bīja, the propensity for lording it over the material nature, resources, that is the bīja of materialistic life. How to become a very great personality within this material world. The bhakti-yoga is just the opposite. Here everyone is trying to become greater than the other. But bhakti-yoga is so nice, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). Dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. The more you become servant of the servant, the more you advance. And here in this material, the more you become greater than your friend, then you are (indistinct). That means more you become implicated. More... Just like the same example, the more you increase your temperature, you are facing death. Certain temperature is required, 98 degrees. But if you simply increase your temperature, "Oh, it is very nice," then at 107 degrees you finish. So this material improvement means meeting death. Let us come to the point. The nationalism is competition, which nation is greater. Now they have manufactured atomic bomb. That means finishing point they have come to.

Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971:

So this demonic principle, Prahlāda Mahārāja is trying to demolish this demonic mentality of his friends that "Don't try to be falsely puffed up to understand God. Take the process of bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ." This material world means we have got a seed of ambition that I want to become greater than everyone. I want to be the greatest businessman, I want to be the greatest personality, I want to be the greatest leader, the greatest, greatest, greatest, and there is comp... Everybody is trying to be greater than his friend so therefore, there is competition. But in Vaiṣṇava philosophy... Actually that is the philosophy, because we cannot be greater or greatest. Mattaḥ parataram. Nobody can be greater than God or equal to God, that is not possible. Even if he is Brahma, Lord Siva, or any other. Therefore, śāstra says that anyone who thinks such demigods, paratena. Yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devam (CC Madhya 18.116), there is a verse like that, anyone who thinks Nārāyaṇa equal to Brahma or Lord Siva, then he..., that type of thinking is called pāṣaṇḍī, sa pāsaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam(?). Pāṣaṇḍī means atheist. Never, that is also one of the ten offenses in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, you know that. One of the offense is when you think that any name will be as good as harer nāma. No. Otherwise, why śāstra says harer nāma harer nāma, three times stressing? Nāma, Holy Name means harer nāma, not any other name. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). There are many foolish persons, they say, "No, any name. You chant Durgā's name, you chant Kali's name, you chant Siva's name, you chant Kṛṣṇa's name, they're all the same. But no, they're not all the same. That is pāṣaṇḍī. That is pāṣaṇḍī. Kṛṣṇa or God is supreme.

Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971:

If I say, suppose somebody is sitting here with his subordinate servant. And if I say, "For me, you are all the same." So the master who is sitting, he will be insulted. Similarly, anyone who thinks that the Supreme Lord and the demigods are on the equal footing, that is offense. Therefore, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu warned that don't hear the interpretation of the Māyāvādīs. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). Anyone who tries to understand Māyāvāda philosophy, misunderstands, not understands, misunderstands, his future is doomed. Doomed means he will never be able to enter into this bīja-nirharaṇam, nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ. There are different kinds of yoga. This yoga is called bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ pravāhoparamo dhiyaḥ. Now he is recommending that how this bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ can be practiced. The first important thing is guru-śuśrūṣayā. Śuśrūṣayā means you have to satisfy the spiritual master, guru. Now suppose you are very big man and you have to serve a spiritual master. Therefore, you cannot serve any third-class man or anyone. You must be satisfied that here is a person I can render my service. I can accept as subordinate and I can...

Therefore, what is that guru? Bhagavad-gītā also says, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). Paripraśnena. Paripraśnena means inquiry. Ādau gurv-āśrayam, sad-dharma-pṛcchā. To accept a guru means to inquire from him about spiritual life, about transcendental situation. Not that fashion, "Oh, I have met a guru and he lives 300 miles away, I have no connection, no call for him(?)." No. Why the... The student should be very much inquisitive to learn, because accepting a guru is necessary for a person who is very much inquisitive to learn about the spiritual world. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Those who are not inquisitive to learn about the spiritual world, to learn about God, they need not keep a guru as a fashion, there is no need.

Lecture on SB 7.7.29-31 -- San Francisco, March 15, 1967, (incomplete lecture):

Prabhupāda: (chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers)

tatropāya-sahasrāṇām

ayaṁ bhagavatoditaḥ

yad īśvare bhagavati

yathā yair añjasā ratiḥ

(SB 7.7.29)

So in last day meeting we have discussed that we have to crush the seed of this material existence. Bīja-nirharaṇaṁ yogaḥ. Bīja. So long the seed is there, we may practice something for spiritual realization, meditation, or the gymnastic yoga—or there are so many other things—but the seed is there. We may be forgetful of our existence, nirvāṇa, void, or hallucination. But because the bīja, the seed, is there, as soon as the effect of such imperfect method is finished, again you come to that Again. This is the bīja. The same example, just like weeds in the field. They appeared completely dried up. There is no more. But as soon as there are drops of rain, oh, again it becomes green. Because the seed is there. So if you want to wipe out the seed of this material existence, then Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends that tatropāya-sahasrāṇām. There are maybe..., there may be many hundreds and thousands of process for wipe out, not wipe out, just to bring you to some transcendental position, forgetfulness of your material existence. There may be. But Prahlāda Mahārāja says that sahasrāṇām ayaṁ bhagavatoditaḥ. The method of Kṛṣṇa consciousness described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, yad īśvare bhagavati yathā yair añjasā ratiḥ, this can give you the wiping-out method. If you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the seed of material existence will be completely stopped. Because there will be no... It is very practical.