Tantra-bhagavata

Expressions researched:
"Tantra Bhagavata"

SB Canto 6

There are ninety million demigods and seventy million sages, who are all called nārāyaṇāyana, devotees of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Among them, only a few are called nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa.

SB 6.14.5, Purport: Those who aspire to be elevated to the heavenly planets by devotional service will also be frustrated, because this is not the result of devotional service. However, they are also given a chance to engage in devotional service and be purified. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17):

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

"Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted."

Unless the dirt within the core of one's heart is cleansed away, one cannot become a pure devotee. Therefore the word su-durlabhaḥ ("very rarely found") is used in this verse. Not only among hundreds and thousands, but among millions of perfectly liberated souls, a pure devotee is hardly ever found. Therefore the words koṭiṣv api are used herein. Śrīla Madhvācārya gives the following quotations from the Tantra Bhāgavata:

nava-koṭyas tu devānām

ṛṣayaḥ sapta-koṭayaḥ

nārāyaṇāyanāḥ sarve

ye kecit tat-parāyaṇāḥ

"There are ninety million demigods and seventy million sages, who are all called nārāyaṇāyana, devotees of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Among them, only a few are called nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa."

nārāyaṇāyanā devā

ṛṣy-ādyās tat-parāyaṇāḥ

brahmādyāḥ kecanaiva syuḥ

siddho yogya-sukhaṁ labhan

The difference between the siddhas and nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇas is that direct devotees are called nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇas whereas those who perform various types of mystic yoga are called siddhas.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

Explaining the words satyasya yonim, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that Kṛṣṇa is the avatārī, the origin of all incarnations.

SB 10.2.26, Purport: Those who are engaged in the service of the Lord are not meant to struggle for existence. The devotees who are fully engaged in spreading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, more than ten thousand men and women all over the world, have no steady or permanent occupation, yet we actually see that they are maintained very opulently. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.22):

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ

ye janāḥ paryupāsate

teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ

yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

"For those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form, I carry to them what they lack and preserve what they have." The devotees have no anxiety over what will happen next, where they will stay or what they will eat, for everything is maintained and supplied by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has promised, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: "O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes." (Bg. 9.31) From all angles of vision, therefore, in all circumstances, if one fully surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of one's struggling for existence. In this connection, the commentary by Śrīpāda Madhvācārya, who quotes from the Tantra-bhāgavata, is very meaningful:

sac-chadba uttamaṁ brūyād

ānandantīti vai vadet

yetijñānaṁ samuddiṣṭaṁ

pūrṇānanda-dṛśis tataḥ

attṛtvāc ca tadā dānāt

satyāttya cocyate vibhuḥ

Explaining the words satyasya yonim, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that Kṛṣṇa is the avatārī, the origin of all incarnations. All incarnations are the Absolute Truth, yet the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all incarnations. Dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya dīpāyate (Bs. 5.46). There may be many lamps, all equal in power, yet there is a first lamp, a second lamp, a third lamp and so on. Similarly, there are many incarnations, who are compared to lamps, but the first lamp, the original Personality of Godhead, is Kṛṣṇa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.

The demigods must offer worship in obedience to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but one might argue that since the Supreme Godhead was within the womb of Devakī, He was also coming in a material body. Why then should He be worshiped? Why should one make a distinction between an ordinary living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead?