The next sūtra answers that the nature of the Absolute Truth is that He is the origin of everything. Whatever we experience, even in this material condition of life, is but an emanation from Him. The Absolute Truth created the mind, senses and intelligence. This means that the Absolute Truth is not without mind, intelligence and senses. In other words, He is not impersonal. The very word created means that He has transcendental intelligence. For example, when a father begets a child, the child has senses because the father also has senses. The child is born with hands and legs because the father also has hands and legs. Sometimes it is said that man is made after the image of God. The Absolute Truth is therefore the Supreme Personality, with transcendental mind, senses and intelligence. When one's mind, intelligence and senses are purified of material contamination, one can understand the original feature of the Absolute Truth as a person.
Transcendental senses
Expressions researched:
"one's mind and senses are transcendental"
|"senses are all transcendental"
|"senses are also transcendental"
|"senses are transcendental"
|"transcendental form and sense"
|"transcendental mind, senses and intelligence"
|"transcendental senses"
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
Lord Kṛṣṇa is referred to as Hṛṣīkeśa in this verse because He is the owner of all senses. The living entities are part and parcel of Him, and therefore the senses of the living entities are also part and parcel of His senses. The impersonalists cannot account for the senses of the living entities, and therefore they are always anxious to describe all living entities as senseless, or impersonal. The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses. But He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra the Lord directly controls the transcendental senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of Hṛṣīkeśa. The Lord has different names according to His different activities. For example, His name is Madhusūdana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses; His name is Vāsudeva because He appeared as the son of Vāsudeva; His name is Devakī-nandana because He accepted Devakī as His mother; His name is Yaśodā-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to Yaśodā at Vṛndāvana; His name is Pārtha-sārathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna. Similarly, His name is Hṛṣīkeśa because He gave direction to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.
"He does not possess a bodily form like that of an ordinary living entity. There is no difference between His body and His soul. He is absolute. All His senses are transcendental. Any one of His senses can perform the action of any other sense. Therefore, no one is greater than Him or equal to Him. His potencies are multifarious, and thus His deeds are automatically performed as a natural sequence." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.7-8)
Since everything is in full opulence in the Personality of Godhead and is existing in full truth, there is no duty for the Supreme Personality of Godhead to perform. One who must receive the results of work has some designated duty, but one who has nothing to achieve within the three planetary systems certainly has no duty. And yet Lord Kṛṣṇa is engaged on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra as the leader of the kṣatriyas because the kṣatriyas are duty-bound to give protection to the distressed. Although He is above all the regulations of the revealed scriptures, He does not do anything that violates the revealed scriptures.
In the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi, one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one's ability to see the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.
Some unauthorized commentators try to identify the individual soul with the Supersoul, and the monists think this to be liberation, but they do not understand the real purpose of the Patañjali system of yoga. There is an acceptance of transcendental pleasure in the Patañjali system, but the monists do not accept this transcendental pleasure, out of fear of jeopardizing the theory of oneness. The duality of knowledge and knower is not accepted by the nondualist, but in this verse transcendental pleasure—realized through transcendental senses—is accepted. And this is corroborated by Patañjali Muni, the famous exponent of the yoga system. The great sage declares in his Yoga-sūtras (4.34): puruṣārtha-śūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śaktir iti.
BG Chapters 13 - 18
The Supreme Lord, although the source of all the senses of the living entities, doesn't have material senses like they have. Actually, the individual souls have spiritual senses, but in conditioned life they are covered with the material elements, and therefore the sense activities are exhibited through matter. The Supreme Lord's senses are not so covered. His senses are transcendental and are therefore called nirguṇa. Guṇa means the material modes, but His senses are without material covering. It should be understood that His senses are not exactly like ours. Although He is the source of all our sensory activities, He has His transcendental senses, which are uncontaminated. This is very nicely explained in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (3.19) in the verse apāṇi-pādo javano grahītā. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no hands which are materially contaminated, but He has His hands and accepts whatever sacrifice is offered to Him. That is the distinction between the conditioned soul and the Supersoul.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
Śrī Nārada said: You have not actually broadcast the sublime and spotless glories of the Personality of Godhead. That philosophy which does not satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord is considered worthless.
Thus Cupid's influence is exerted even amongst the ugliest forms, and what to speak of the most perfect beauties. Lord Śiva, who is considered to be most tolerant, was also struck by Cupid's arrow because he also became mad after the Mohinī incarnation of the Lord and acknowledged himself to be defeated. Cupid, however, was himself captivated by the grave and exciting dealings of the goddesses of fortune, and he voluntarily gave up his bow and arrow in a spirit of frustration. Such was the beauty and attraction of the queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Yet they could not disturb the transcendental senses of the Lord. This is because the Lord is all-perfect ātmārāma, or self-sufficient. He does not require anyone's extraneous help for His personal satisfaction. Therefore, the queens could not satisfy the Lord by their feminine attractiveness, but they satisfied Him by their sincere affection and service. Only by unalloyed transcendental loving service could they satisfy the Lord, and the Lord was pleased to treat them as wives in reciprocation. Thus being satisfied by their unalloyed service only, the Lord reciprocated the service just like a devout husband. Otherwise He had no business becoming the husband of so many wives. He is the husband of everyone, but to one who accepts Him as such, He reciprocates.
SB Canto 2
The Vedas instruct us to get out of the existence of darkness and go forward on the path of light (tamasi mā jyotir gama). The path of light is therefore to satisfy the senses of the Lord. Misguided men, or less intelligent men, follow the path of self-realization without any attempt to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord by following the path shown by Arjuna and other devotees of the Lord. On the contrary, they artificially try to stop the activities of the senses (yoga system), or they deny the transcendental senses of the Lord (jñāna system). The devotees, however, are above the yogīs and the jñānīs because pure devotees do not deny the senses of the Lord; they want to satisfy the senses of the Lord. Only because of the darkness of ignorance do the yogīs and jñānīs deny the senses of the Lord and thus artificially try to control the activities of the diseased senses. In the diseased condition of the senses there is too much engagement of the senses in increasing material needs. When one comes to see the disadvantage of aggravating the sense activities, one is called a jñānī, and when one tries to stop the activities of the senses by the practice of yogic principles, he is called a yogi, but when one is fully aware of the transcendental senses of the Lord and tries to satisfy His senses, one is called a devotee of the Lord. The devotees of the Lord do not try to deny the senses of the Lord, nor do they artificially stop the actions of the senses. But they do voluntarily engage the purified senses in the service of the master of the senses, as was done by Arjuna, thereby easily attaining the perfection of satisfying the Lord, the ultimate goal of all perfection.
As such, there is an unlimited flow of everlasting happiness, without the fear of its being broken as we have experienced here in the material world. The relationship with the Lord is never broken; thus there is no grief and no fear. Such happiness is inexplicable by words, and there can be no attempt to generate such happiness by fruitive activities by arrangements and sacrifices. But we must also know that happiness, unbroken happiness exchanged with the Supreme Person, the Personality of Godhead as described in this verse, transcends the impersonal conception of the Upaniṣads. In the Upaniṣads the description is more or less negation of the material conception of things, but this is not denial of the transcendental senses of the Supreme Lord. Herein also the same is affirmed in the statement that the Supreme Lord is pure (suddham). The word suddham indicates that the senses of the Personality of Godhead are not made of the material elements; they are all transcendental, free from all contamination of material identification. And also the liberated souls are not devoid of senses; otherwise there cannot be any reciprocation of unhampered spiritual happiness exchanged between them in spontaneous unbroken joy.
The statement of the Bhagavad-gītā, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6), is also confirmed herewith. param means transcendental Brahman. Therefore, the abode of the Lord is also Brahman, nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is known as Vaikuṇṭha, and His abode is also known as Vaikuṇṭha. Such Vaikuṇṭha realization and worship can be made possible by transcendental form and sense.
SB Canto 3
The sense enjoyment of all animals, men and demigods within the purview of the material universe is controlled by the supernatural force called the prakṛti, or daivī-māyā. No one is independent in obtaining sense enjoyment, and everyone in this material world is after sense enjoyment. Persons who are themselves under the control of supernatural power cannot believe that Lord Kṛṣṇa is not under any control beyond Himself in the matter of sense enjoyment. They cannot understand that His senses are transcendental. In the Brahma-saṁhitā the Lord's senses are described as omnipotent; i.e., with any sense He can perform the activities of the other senses. One who has limited senses cannot believe that the Lord can eat by His transcendental power of hearing and can perform the act of sex life simply by seeing. The controlled living entity cannot even dream of such sense activities in his conditional life. But simply by the activities of bhakti-yoga, he can understand that the Lord and His activities are always transcendental. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: one cannot know even a fraction of the activities of the Lord if he is not a pure devotee of the Lord.
The quivering of the living entity as described above is due to the senses. Since the entire material existence is meant for sense gratification, the senses are the medium of material activities, and they cause the quivering of the steady soul. Therefore, these senses are to be detached from all such material activities. According to the impersonalists the senses are stopped from work by merging the soul in the Supersoul Brahman. The devotees, however, do not stop the material senses from acting, but they engage their transcendental senses in the service of the Transcendence, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In either case, the activities of the senses in the material field are to be stopped by cultivation of knowledge, and, if possible, they can be engaged in the service of the Lord. The senses are transcendental in nature, but their activities become polluted when contaminated by matter. We have to treat the senses to cure them of the material disease, not stop them from acting, as suggested by the impersonalist.
Artificially stopping a mischievous child is not the real remedy. The child must be given some better engagement so that he will automatically stop causing mischief. In the same way, the mischievous activities of the senses can be stopped only by better engagement in relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the eyes are engaged in seeing the beautiful form of the Lord, the tongue engaged in tasting prasāda, or remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord, the ears are engaged in hearing His glories, the hands engaged in cleaning the temple of the Lord, the legs engaged in visiting His temples—or when all the senses are engaged in transcendental variegatedness—then only can the transcendental senses become satiated and eternally free from material engagement. The Lord, as the Supersoul residing in everyone's heart and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the transcendental world far beyond the material creation, is the seer of all our activities. Our activities must be so transcendentally saturated that the Lord will be kind enough to look upon us favorably and engage us in His transcendental service; then only can the senses be satisfied completely and be no longer troubled by material attraction.
A pure devotee of the Lord, being cognizant of the facts of the particular time, object and circumstances, always desires to expand the number of devotees of the Lord in various ways. Such expansions of transcendental service may appear to be material to the materialist, but factually they are expansions of the causeless mercy of the Lord towards the devotee. Plans for such activities may appear to be material activities, but they are different in potency, being engaged in the satisfaction of the transcendental senses of the Supreme.
Brahmā is deputed as the supreme head of universal affairs, and he in his turn deputes Manu and others as charges d'affaires of the material manifestation, but the whole show is for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahmā knows how to satisfy the Lord, and similarly persons engaged in the line of Brahmā's plan of activities also know how to satisfy the Lord. The Lord is satisfied by the process of devotional service, consisting of the ninefold process of hearing, chanting, etc. It is in one's own sell-interest to execute prescribed devotional service, and anyone who neglects this process neglects his own self-interest. Everyone wants to satisfy his senses, but above the senses is the mind, above the mind is the intelligence, above the intelligence is the individual self, and above the individual self is the Superself. Above even the Superself is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, viṣṇu-tattva. The primeval Lord and the cause of all causes is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The complete process of perfectional service is to render service for the satisfaction of the transcendental senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Janārdana.
The purpose of the Vedas is to propagate the transcendental knowledge of the Absolute Truth. The brāhmaṇas were created from the mouth of the Supreme Person, and therefore they are meant to spread the knowledge of the Vedas in order to spread the glories of the Lord. In Bhagavad-gītā also Lord Kṛṣṇa says that all the Vedas are meant for understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is especially mentioned here (yoga-yuktān alampaṭān) that brāhmaṇas are full of mystic power and are completely averse to sense gratification. Actually there are two kinds of occupations. One occupation, in the material world, is sense gratification, and the other occupation is spiritual activity—to satisfy the Lord by His glorification. Those who engage in sense gratification are called demons, and those who spread the glorification of the Lord or satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord are called demigods. It is specifically mentioned here that the brāhmaṇas are created from the face of the cosmic personality, or virāṭ-puruṣa; similarly the kṣatriyas are said to be created from His arms, the vaiśyas are created from His waist, and the śūdras are created from His legs. Brāhmaṇas are especially meant for austerity, learning and knowledge and are averse to all kinds of sense gratification.
SB Canto 4
If we do not change our consciousness in this life, whatever we do in the name of social, political, religious or communal and national welfare will be the cause of our bondage. This means we have to continue in material, conditional life. As explained in Bhagavad-gītā (15.7), manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. When the mind and senses are engaged in material activities, one has to continue his material existence and struggle to attain happiness. In each and every life one is engaged in the struggle to become happy. Actually no one in this material world is happy, but the struggle gives a false sense of happiness. A person must work very hard, and when he attains the result of his hard work, he thinks himself happy. In the material world people do not know what real happiness is. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam (BG 6.21). Real happiness must be appreciated by one's transcendental senses. Unless one is purified, the transcendental senses are not manifest; therefore to purify the senses one must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engage the senses in the service of the Lord. Then there will be real happiness and liberation.
SB Canto 5
In Ketumāla-varṣa, Lord Kāmadeva (Pradyumna) moves very graciously. His mild smile is very beautiful, and when He increases the beauty of His face by slightly raising His eyebrows and glancing playfully, He pleases the goddess of fortune. Thus He enjoys His transcendental senses.
SB Canto 7
The happiness and distress derived from the activities of the material senses are not actual happiness and distress. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā speaks of happiness that is transcendental to the material conception of life (sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam (BG 6.21)). When our senses are purified of material contamination, they become atīndriya, transcendental senses, and when the transcendental senses are engaged in the service of the master of the senses, Hṛṣīkeśa, one can derive real transcendental pleasure. Whatever distress or happiness we manufacture by mental concoction through the subtle mind has no reality, but is simply a mental concoction. One should therefore not imagine so-called happiness through mental concoction. Rather, the best course is to engage the mind in the service of the Lord, Hṛṣīkeśa, and thus feel real blissful life.
SB Canto 8
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the only enjoyer and proprietor of everything (bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29)). Therefore any activity performed for the Supreme Lord is permanent. As a result of such activities, the performer is immediately recognized. Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ (BG 18.69). Such a devotee, because of full knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is immediately transcendental, although he may superficially appear to be engaged in materialistic activities. The only distinction between materialistic activity and spiritual activity is that material activity is performed only to satisfy one's own senses whereas spiritual activity is meant to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By spiritual activity everyone factually benefits, whereas by materialistic activity no one benefits and instead one becomes entangled in the laws of karma.
"In the spiritually joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth." One has to perceive happiness by the supersenses. The supersenses are not the senses of the material elements. Every one of us is a spiritual being (ahaṁ brahmāsmi), and every one of us is an individual person. Our senses are now covered by material elements, and because of ignorance we consider the material senses that cover us to be our real senses. The real senses, however, are within the material covering. Dehino'smin yathā dehe: (BG 2.13) within the covering of the material elements are the spiritual senses. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam: (CC Madhya 19.170) when the spiritual senses are uncovered, by these senses we can be happy. Satisfaction of the spiritual senses is thus described: hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When the senses are engaged in devotional service to Hṛṣīkeśa, then the senses are completely satisfied. Without this superior knowledge of sense gratification, one may try to satisfy his material senses, but happiness will never be possible. One may increase his ambition for sense gratification and even achieve what he desires for the gratification of his senses, but because this is on the material platform, he will never achieve satisfaction and contentment.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
Within His body are elaborately arranged the three planetary systems of this universe. His transcendental senses generate the knowledge-acquiring and active senses of all embodied beings. His consciousness generates conditioned knowledge, and His powerful breathing produces the bodily strength, sensory power and conditioned activities of the embodied souls. He is the prime mover, through the agency of the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. And thus the universe is created, maintained and annihilated.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
This awakening of divine consciousness enthralls a devotee, who thus relishes his eternal transcendental mellow. Such an awakening is awarded only to those convinced by devotional service about the transcendental nature of the Personality of Godhead. They know that the Supreme Truth, the all-spiritual and all-powerful person, is one without a second and has fully transcendental senses. He is the fountainhead of all emanations. Such pure devotees, always merged in knowledge of Kṛṣṇa and absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, exchange thoughts and realizations as great scientists exchange their views and discuss the results of their research in scientific academies. Such exchanges of thoughts in regard to Kṛṣṇa give pleasure to the Lord, who therefore favors such devotees with all enlightenment.
My dear auspicious Rādhārāṇī, Your body is the source of all beauty. Your red lips are softer than the sense of immortal sweetness, Your face bears the aroma of a lotus flower, Your sweet words defeat the vibrations of the cuckoo, and Your limbs are cooler than the pulp of sandalwood. All My transcendental senses are overwhelmed in ecstatic pleasure by tasting You, who are completely decorated by beautiful qualities.’
As spiritual sparks of the beams emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord, we are all permanently related with Him and equal to Him in quality. The material energy is a covering of the spiritual spark, but in the absence of that material covering, the living beings in Vaikuṇṭhaloka are never forgetful of their identities: they are eternally cognizant of their relationship with God in their constitutional position of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord. Because they constantly engage in the transcendental service of the Lord, it is natural to conclude that their senses are also transcendental, for one cannot serve the Lord with material senses. The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭhaloka do not possess material senses with which to lord it over material nature.
CC Madhya-lila
Apart from this, Kṛṣṇa can eat the food with any one of His transcendental senses. He can eat by seeing the food or by touching it. Nor should one think that it is necessary for Kṛṣṇa to eat. He does not become hungry like an ordinary human being; nonetheless, He presents Himself as being hungry, and as such, He can eat everything and anything, regardless of quantity. The philosophy underlying Kṛṣṇa's eating is understandable by our transcendental senses. When our senses are purified by constantly being engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, we can understand Kṛṣṇa's activities, names, forms, qualities, pastimes and entourage.
In Vaikuṇṭha the consort is Lakṣmī, and in Goloka Vṛndāvana the consort is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. In the spiritual body, free from material contamination, one can serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. When one is thus spiritually situated, he no longer thinks of his own personal sense gratification. This spiritual body is called siddha-deha, the body by which one can render transcendental service unto Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The process is that of engaging the transcendental senses in loving devotional service. This verse specifically mentions, sakhī-bhāve pāya rādhā-kṛṣṇera caraṇa: only transcendentally elevated persons in the mood of the gopīs can engage in the service of the lotus feet of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Renunciation Through Wisdom
When a person gradually progresses from materialistic perception to spiritual perception, he can clearly understand how trivial are his mundane desires, feelings, dislikes, and so on which were so long contaminated by ignorance. As this ignorance dissipates, mundane desires become insignificant. Desires remain, but they are no longer mundane. They become transcendental. In that state, one perceives Brahman, the Supersoul, and the Supreme Lord as one. Such higher perceptions are possible only when one's mind and senses are transcendental, a stage impossible to reach in one leap. Those who try the impossible are irrational and overambitious. Everyone has to proceed gradually, placing each step securely before taking the next one. In this way one will ultimately reach the goal.
Message of Godhead
The learned sages say that to approach the lotus feet of Viṣṇu is to get liberation. We can satisfy our ordinary desires by satisfying the transcendental senses of Viṣṇu, which is the ultimate goal of karma-yoga, or work with transcendental results. If we do not perform our duties in this manner, for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu, then certainly all and any work done by us will produce nothing but poisonous material results, and ultimately there will be disaster in the world. By doing everything for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu and taking the remnants of the offerings made to Viṣṇu, we can get rid of the vices and sinful reactions that accumulate in the course of our performing our prescribed duties.
Therefore, those who are leaders of their respective countries and communities should first be sure to satisfy Viṣṇu, for their own benefit and for the benefit of those whom they profess to lead. All leaders should ponder how they can discharge their duties by satisfying the transcendental senses of Viṣṇu, for what the leaders do will be imitated by their followers. Therefore, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, advises Arjuna as follows: "What is done by the leader is followed by the ordinary man. Whatever the leader establishes as truth, the followers take to it unhesitatingly."
But alas, the time has already come when the leaders, whom ordinary men regard as beacons, are themselves mostly atheists at the bottom of their hearts and are against the principles laid down by Godhead. As such, what can they do for the satisfaction of the transcendental senses of Viṣṇu? And if they do not do everything for the satisfaction of the transcendental senses of Godhead, how can they expect to drag themselves or their followers from the mire of sins committed in the course of discharging prescribed duties? If the leaders do not recognize the existence of the all-powerful Viṣṇu, who is simultaneously both the supreme transcendental personality and the impersonal spirit existing everywhere, then what will ordinary men understand about Him? He is the supreme enjoyer of everything that be, and thus none of us, however great we may be, can be the enjoyer of the universe and its paraphernalia. Since our position is subordinate to that of the almighty Viṣṇu, the Supreme Godhead (Īśvara, the supreme controller), we can enjoy only what comes from Him as a token of His kindness. We must not enjoy anything that is not offered by Him. We should not make any extra effort to obtain anything which belongs to Him or others. That is the spirit of Vaiṣṇavism.
We can see such signs in the method of preaching espoused by Gandhijī. Although he chants the name of Rāma, he is not aware of the transcendental science of the name. He is a worshiper of the impersonal Godhead. That is to say, his Godhead or Viṣṇu is devoid of transcendental activities. His Godhead cannot eat, cannot see, and cannot hear; for impersonality means being without any of these sensory activities. When the empiric philosopher tries to approach the Absolute Truth, he can reach only as far as the impersonal feature of Godhead, without knowing anything about the Lord's transcendental pastimes. When the Absolute Truth is not credited with having any transcendental senses or sensory activities, certainly He is supposed impotent. An impotent Godhead, of course, cannot hear the prayers of His devotees, nor can He ameliorate the distress of the universe.
So those who are aware of transcendental knowledge, and who thus are actually learned, perform all acts needed for maintaining the body and mind, but with a view to satisfying the transcendental senses of the Supreme Godhead, Viṣṇu. Ordinary men regard these learned transcendentalists as common workers, but in fact, the transcendentalists are not workers for mundane benefit—they are karma-yogīs, or workers for transcendental results. And in such transcendental work, the material results are gained automatically, without any separate endeavor.
In the present age we are witnessing an enormous expansion of material activities, an endlessly variegated multiplicity of material engagements. Mills and factories, as well as hospitals and other institutions, are now in vogue. In ancient times, there was not so great an expansion of material activities. In those days the mode of living was simple, and yet the thoughts were sublime. So now there is a very good field of activities for the karma-yogīs, who can engage all the various modern institutions in the transcendental service of Viṣṇu, for the satisfaction of His transcendental senses.
We have already discussed the necessity of performing work for sacrifice only, or to please the transcendental senses of Viṣṇu. And in the above statement of Bhagavad-gītā, it is clear that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, who alone is capable of enjoying the result of all sacrificial performances. The sacrifices of the ordinary workers and the meditation and austerities of the empiric philosophers are all ordained and maintained by the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In turn, the Supersoul—the localized aspect of Viṣṇu, which is the object of meditation for the mystics—is a plenary portion of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Senses. Yes. Here... Senses... We have got our transcendental senses. Now it is covered. Just like in our diseased condition, the same hand, the same nose, same ear, are there, but we feel something extraordinary. "Oh, my, there is headache. Oh, my hand is burning, burning. Oh!" But when the disease is cured, then you don't feel that sensation. So senses we have got. That is our spiritual senses. So we have to revive our spiritual senses. We are not senseless. As spirit soul, we have got our original senses, but that senses are now covered by this material contamination. Just like my senses, my hand burns during fever, due to the fever. But when the fever is moved, removed, when I get free from the fever attack, then I feel nice, similarly, we have got our senses; when we are freed from this material contamination, then we have got our proper use of the sense and enjoyment.
Everyone in this material world, he's a servant. Nobody is master. One thinks that "I am the master," but he is actually servant. Suppose if you have got your family, if you are thinking that you are the master of your wife, of your children, of your servants, of your business, that is false. You are the servant of your wife, you are the servant of your children, you are the servant of your servants. That is your real position. Any case you take. The president, he is considered to be the master of your country, but actually he is the servant of your country. So if you go on analyzing that our position is always servant... So either we shall become the servant of illusion or we shall have to become the servant of God. But if we remain the servant of illusion, then our life is wasted. Everyone is servant of illusion. He's servant of nobody but servant of illusion. He is expecting some profit. For serving, he is expecting some profit, but that profit is transient and illusion. Therefore he is servant of illusion. And when a person becomes to his real senses, transcendental senses or jñānam, when he becomes actually the person in knowledge, then he becomes the servant of the reality. Because I am servant always, this way or that way.
One who does not know that real happiness can be experienced by our transcendental senses, not with these material senses... Senses are not to be sacrificed. Desires are not to be sacrificed, but there are desires in the spiritual field, there are sense satisfaction in the spiritual field. That is a different thing. So here it is said, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat (BG 6.21). What is really happiness, tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam, that is transcendental to this experience, empirical sense gratification. Vetti yatra na caivāyaṁ sthitaś calati tattvataḥ. One who does not know this, then certainly he will be agitated in the mind and fall down. So one should know that the happiness which we are trying to derive from the material senses, that is not happiness. I have, several times I recited one nice verse, the description of Rāma.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa is called Govinda. We ultimately want our sense satisfaction, and go means senses. Here is the person, Supreme Personality of Godhead. If you serve Kṛṣṇa, then your senses become satisfied. Therefore His name is Govinda. Actually, we want to serve our senses, but the real senses, the transcendental senses, is Kṛṣṇa, Govinda. Therefore bhakti, devotional service, means purifying the senses. To be employed in the service of the supreme pure. The Lord is supreme pure. In the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Tenth Chapter you'll find that Kṛṣṇa is described by Arjuna pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān: "You are the supreme pure." So if we want to serve the senses of the supreme pure, then we have to become pure also. Because without... Being pure means spiritual. Spiritual life means pure life, and material life means contaminated life. Just like we have got this body, material body. This is impure body.
We have no understanding what is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. We are accustomed to taste this material ānanda, sense gratification. There are... Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). Here, in this material world, the ānanda is sex gratification, sex intercourse. Maithuna. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. This is the most abominable ānanda. This is not ānanda. Although the whole world is mohita... Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair mohitam. This is the ānanda. In the Western world we have seen even old men, seventy-five years old, eighty years old, they are going to the naked dance club, the sex ānanda. Because in the material world there is no ānanda except this. But in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21). What is real ānanda, that you have to taste by your transcendental senses, not these senses, blunt senses. This is blunt senses, covered senses. There is no question of tasting ānanda with these senses. There is no possibility. Ānanda is described. Just like it is said, ramante yoginaḥ anante. (CC Madhya 9.29) Yoginaḥ, those who are transcendentalists, above this material world, they also seeking after ānanda or tasting ānanda. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. That is satyānanda. That is real ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. And there is no end of that ānanda. Nityaṁ nava-navāyamānam.
Pradyumna: There's a few verses together... "The stage of perfection is called trance or samādhi when one mind, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this, he thinks there is no greater gain."
Prabhupāda: So every information is there. If we want actually happiness, then we have to purify the material consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. (break) ...have come to the point of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be achieved by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Athāpi te deva padāmbhuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi (SB 10.14.29). Kṛṣṇa cannot be understood by any other method than the Kṛṣṇa method. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Therefore if one wants to understand Kṛṣṇa, he must take the Kṛṣṇa method. Kṛṣṇa method. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and the method of attaining Kṛṣṇa. They are the same. Method... The bhakti method means Kṛṣṇa method. Bhakta-bhagavān. And the method to approach Bhagavān is called bhakti.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Actually, the enjoyment is in my mind. That is not enjoyment. That is not enjoyment. Real enjoyment is when I am free from this embodiment of five elements, gross elements, and three subtle elements. I have entered into this, and the action and reaction of these five gross elements, three subtle elements, I am enjoying. Actually, not enjoying. This is called māyā. There is no enjoyment. It is enjoyment in the mind. The mind is also material creation. Real enjoyment is beyond these senses. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tat. The real happiness is not by these gross senses. By transcendental senses, we can enjoy sukham āt..., real happiness. Therefore, because we are not in that platform of enjoying the transcendental senses, we are trying to enjoy by these gross senses, therefore we are becoming baffled and frustrated. This is the cause of frustration. Because that is not the platform of enjoyment.
So te sādhu kṛta-sarvārthāḥ. They have executed all duties. Kṛta-sarvārthāḥ. Jñātvā ātyantikam ātmanaḥ. We are hankering after happiness, temporary, but we do not know what is ultimate happiness. So they knew what is the ultimate happiness. Ātyantikam. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21). Bhagavad-gītā. Ātyantikam. The ultimate happiness is not perceived by these gross material senses. The ultimate happiness is appreciated, understood, by transcendental senses. The same senses... Means now the senses are covered by material infection. So when you purify this material infection, then your senses become pure. And in that pure senses, you can enjoy real happiness. Therefore here it is said, ātyantikam ātmanaḥ manasā dhārayām āsuḥ. So they knew what is the ātyantikaṁ dhār..., Vaikuṇṭha. Vaikuṇṭha-caraṇāmbujam. Vaikuṇṭha. Vaikuṇṭha means vigata-kuṇṭha. Kuṇṭha means anxiety. And God's another name is Vaikuṇṭha. If you take shelter of the lotus feet of God, Kṛṣṇa, then you become without anxieties. This is the only. Everyone is full of anxiety. Even a bird, even a beast, even a small ant, what to speak of our position. The material world is such, we must be full of anxieties. That is explained also. Asad-grahāt. Because we have accepted something flickering as shelter. If you accept something which is not permanent, which is tiltering... In a boat suppose which is tiltering, at any moment you will be drowned.
Festival Lectures
You can understand it very easily. If I get some nice foodstuff, because I satisfy my taste, palate, I feel happiness, "Oh, very nice food I am eating." Similarly, you take any of your sense organs, when it is satisfied according to the sense object, it is called happiness. So the sum and substance of happiness is to satisfy the senses. But Kṛṣṇa says that sukham ātyantikam. The supermost happiness can be achieved not by these senses, but atīndriya. Atīndriya means transcendental senses. Just like at the present moment our senses are gross material senses. But there is another sense, not another sense, this sense. This is covered sense. Suppose you will try... You will be able to understand. Now, I want to touch some soft place to enjoy the sense of this hand, touch sense. But if the hand is covered with gloves, I cannot enjoy that sense so nicely. You can easily understand. The sense is there, but if it is artificially covered, then even the facility is there, I cannot enjoy the sense perfectly. Similarly, we have got our senses, but our senses are now covered by this material body. So Kṛṣṇa gives us indication in the Bhagavad-gītā that that superhappiness can be achieved by that sense, not this covered sense. Covered sense, you cannot enjoy the happiness superbly. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriyaṁ grāhyam (BG 6.21). Atīndriya means transcendental, not this covered sense. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness means... We have got consciousness. Everyone is conscious, but that consciousness is covered consciousness.
That's all right. But that spirit is not void. There is spiritual construction. As in the material world there is material construction, in the spiritual world there is spiritual construction." So that spiritual construction is not known to other philosophers than the Vaiṣṇava philosophers. So Lord Caitanya's philosophy, that is the greatest contribution to the world, that these living entities who are hankering after happiness by different process... By material process, by philosophical process, by mental concoction or mental process, they are trying, and Lord Kṛṣṇa also said—they are trying—but that happiness is available when your senses or consciousness are pure. The same philosophy is also Lord Caitanya's philosophy. He says that jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). What is the pure consciousness? Kṛṣṇa said that happiness can be achieved in pure consciousness, or when your senses are transcendental. He gave hint. Not only hint, He practically suggested also that "You simply surrender unto Me."
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: Yes. So that is also our aim but that happiness is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat. Ātyantikam. Atyantikam means the greatest happiness. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya grāhyam (BG 6.21). That happiness can be perceived by transcendental senses.
Śyāmasundara: So you're talking about a qualitative happiness, the quality of happiness.
Prabhupāda: Yah, qualitative it must be. Ātyantikam. Ātyantikam means the actual, the greatest happiness.
Śyāmasundara: Greatest, highest happiness.
Prabhupāda: Happiness everyone wants. You are feeling happy by eating something but if you get another better thing, you feel more happiness.
Śyāmasundara: Quality of happiness.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Not the quality of happiness. You feel actually greater happiness. Just like you are taking ordinary sugar, but if you take rasagullā, it is also sweet but it is greater happiness.
Śyāmasundara: Quantity, quantity of happiness is greater.
Prabhupāda: Yes, greater happiness. So that greatest happiness can be perceived by transcenden... Happiness means satisfying the senses. Real... Happiness means satisfying the senses. So sense gratification. But the actual sense gratification, the greatest sense gratification is to be derived by your transcendental senses, not these gross senses. Sometimes these gross senses... Take for example rasagullā. You are eating but after eating four, five or ten you'll feel, "No more." That is not ātyantikam happiness. Happiness means you are enjoying something, you increase more and more and more enjoy, more enjoy, more enjoy, more enjoy. That is happiness. So whether this man knows what is happiness, that is the... He does not know what is happiness. He thinks in terms of sense gratification.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Translation?
Rāmeśvara: It's combined with some other verse. "The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks that there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position one is never shaken even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact."
Prabhupāda: That is translation?
Rāmeśvara: That is the translation.
Prabhupāda: Purport.
Prabhupāda: Purport.
Rāmeśvara: Purport. "By practice of yoga one becomes gradually detached from material concepts. This is the primary characteristic of the yoga principle, and after this one becomes situated in trance, or samādhi, which means that the yogi realizes the Supersoul through transcendental mind and intelligence, without any of the misgivings of identifying the self with the Superself. Yoga practice is more or less based on the principles of the Patañjali system. Some unauthorized commentators try to identify the individual soul with the Supersoul, and the monists think this to be liberation. But they do not understand the real purpose of the Patañjali system of yoga. There is an acceptance of transcendental pleasure in the Patañjali system, but the monists do not accept this transcendental pleasure out of fear of jeopardizing the theory of oneness. The duality of knowledge and knower is not accepted by the nondualist, but in this verse transcendental pleasure realized through transcendental senses is accepted, and this is corroborated by the Patañjali Muni, the famous exponent of the yoga system. The great sage declares in his Yoga-sūtras: puruṣārtha-śūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śaktir iti. This cit-śakti, or internal potency, is transcendental. Puruṣārtha means material religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, the attempt to become one with the Supreme. This oneness with the Supreme is called kaivalyam by the monist. But according to Patañjali, this kaivalyam is an internal, or transcendental, potency by which the living entity becomes aware of his constitutional position. In the words of Lord Caitanya, this state of affairs is called ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), or clearance of the impure mirror of the mind. This clearance is actually liberation, or bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. The theory of nirvāṇa—also preliminary—corresponds with this principle. In the Bhāgavatam this is called svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). The Bhagavad-gītā also confirms this situation in this verse. After nirvāṇa, or material cessation, there is the manifestation of spiritual activities, or devotional service of the Lord, known as Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the words of the Bhāgavatam, svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: this is the real life of the living entity. māyā, or illusion, is the condition of spiritual life contaminated by material infection. Liberation from this material infection does not mean destruction of the original, eternal position of the living entity. Patañjali also accepts this by his words kaivalyaṁ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śaktir iti. This citi-śakti, or transcendental pleasure, is real life. This is confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtras as ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). This natural, transcendental pleasure is the ultimate goal of yoga and is easily achieved by execution of devotional service, or bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga will be vividly described in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā." Should I keep reading Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Therefore this verse is explained to you, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriyaṁ grāhyam (BG 6.21). So we have to understand through supersenses, not this blunt senses.
Richard: Right, and I think...
Prabhupāda: These are imperfect.
Richard: And I think that in the Western world, I don't know about the Eastern world, in the Western world, that understanding is called faith.
Rāmeśvara: No, what Prabhupāda is explaining is.... Just like now you are seeing me through your blunt senses. By the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you awaken a different type of senses, called transcendental senses, and it is just as real as the blunt sense perception, except it is perfect sense perception, whereas your physical senses are conditioned, limited. There are transcendental senses.
Richard: Yes, but all the input goes into the mind, right?
Rāmeśvara: No, these are actual sense perceptions. "The soul is sentient, thou has proved."
Richard: Okay.
Rāmeśvara: Just like your body has senses, the soul also has senses, and the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and taking the spiritual prasādam, seeing the Deity in the temple and hearing this Vedic knowledge, that awakens the soul, and thus you can experience the sense perception of the soul, the knowledge of God through the soul, sense perception. You can see God, when you're very pure. And that's a fact, not faith.
Prabhupāda: There are five stages of ascending to come to the right conclusion. This, this is.... Just like pratyakṣa, directly, you do not see the sun on the sky, but the same example, if you phone your friend, "Where is the sun?" then he'll say, "Yes, here is the sun." So this is called parokṣa, mean you get the knowledge by other sources. Your direct sources, you cannot see, but you get from other sources, you understand, "Yes, sun is there in the sky."
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
So far as your distress is concerned, it is not new: it is the general condition of living entities who are distressed for want of sense gratification. Unless one is related with Sri Krishna, The Reservoir of All Pleasures, it is very difficult to have complete pleasures perception in this material world. You have read Bhagavad-gita and it is stated that ultimate happiness can be realized by transcendental senses only. Our movement for Krishna Consciousness is to turn the present polluted senses into its original pure form, just like when a man cannot see properly due to cataracts in the eyeball, similarly we cannot have real sense pleasure without being purified in Krishna Consciousness. This purification can be done only by engaging the senses for Krishna. Krishna is called Hrsikesa, or the Master of the Senses. His senses are omnipotent; therefore, when our senses will be engaged to satisfy the senses of Krishna, at that time we will have perfect sense gratification, and be free of all distressed condition.
| Page Title: | Transcendental senses |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 24 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=5, SB=17, CC=5, OB=9, Lec=12, Con=4, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 53 |