A Structural Review of the Main Topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Lecture 8
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2020
Chapters
Opening prayers and introductory remarks
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya, naraṁ caiva naramottamaṁ, देवीм sarasvatiam, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ, tato jayam udīrayet.
Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadrēṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī.
Yam pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyam dvaipāyanō rirakṣor abhihuhāra putreneti tan-mayatoru-vibhūdam sarva- bhūta-hṛdaṁ munim nato 'smi. Hare Krishna.
I am very happy again to be with you, even though I don't see you and don't understand what's going on there, but I hope you can hear me.
Uh so uh to remind you uh where we are in our studying structural studying of the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We've been talking about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in general and
And we touched to a certain extent the nine lakshanas or ten lakshanas, ten topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And then we started discussing one canto after another canto after another canto, trying to understand what is the main message of this canto.
We already stated many, many times that ultimate message of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is described in the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in Kṛṣṇa-līlā, in the description of life story of Krishna.
But to understand it properly, we have to prepare our consciousness and we have to remove certain misconceptions which are very prominent within our mind.
Especially because we are brought up in this modern scientific rational, so to speak, society.
And sometimes, you know, devotees they kind of believe in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but this phase i it doesn't go very deep when it comes to the practical application in our life, we still remain at these.
So that's unfortunately very commonly spread phenomenon.
So we covered the first canto which is the adhikāra-tattva, the Kanto which uh very beautifully describes the qualification to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to understand the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Only if we have the spirit of service to the speaker of Srimad Bhagavatam, to the spiritual master. Only if we are very sincere in this approach and try to listen very carefully, trying to understand not only the logical content of his speech but the greater
truth behind it, which is the main message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then we will be able to very quickly realize Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam as Maharaja Pariksit exemplified in his life. Bhagavatam as Maharaja Pariksit exemplified in his life.
Within just seven days, he understood everything, he became completely, totally happy. His consciousness expanded unlimitedly.
He basically, as our ācāryas explained, obtained his siddhadeha, the body of a cowherd girl in Vrindavan.
Oh, there is something is going on which is not very, according to the first canto is not very desirable. There is some interruption.
The listening according to the first canto should be uninterrupted. That's very important. That's a qualification to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So yeah, he obtained the body of a gopi and he went to the spiritual world.
And that's basically the desired result which could be expected from our study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
But again, to achieve this result, we have to really comply with the conditions which delineated there in the book itself. So the second canto, as we said, was describing the principles behind sadhana. What is sadhana?
How this sadhana ultimately brings us to the goal of our aspirations to the goal of all our endeavors. So that's the second canto, and of course, in the second canto, we again
uh briefly touched a very important topic of the Catuḥ- ślokī of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where the four different elements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are described the Bhagavad Tattva, Maya Tattva, Prayojana Tattva, and Sadhana Tattva.
These four truths are explained in Catuḥ-ślokī of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And then we came to the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then there was a little digression in our delineation
or in our narrative of uh Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that was of course very welcome digression because we were talking about Krishna and his Janmastami last time.
And we also at that time try to establish the fundamental role of two main verses. Main in the sense that they are key verses to understand the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The first one is from the second chapter of the first canto, 11th verse: Vadanti tat-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Bhagavaniti Shabhyate.
And the half actually, it's not even two verses, one and a half verse, is from the third chapter of the first canto to Krishna's tu bhagavan sva. Mate Chamshakalah Pumsa. Krishna's tu bhagavan svayam.
So today, according to our design or according to our syllabus, we were supposed to cover the fourth canto and maybe fifth canto, then sixth, seventh canto, to understand what what is the role, what is the message, and what it is supposed to do.
Introduction to the Sankhya creation philosophy
I will explain very beautifully how it happens today. Hopefully, if we will have little time. But I decided today, instead of going to the fourth canto, to present to you the philosophy of creation, which is
repeated in the second and third Kanto seven times, sometimes very in a very detailed way, sometimes quite briefly in an abridged version.
But still, it's repeated again and again and again and then it's hinted upon in other cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then it's repeated again two or three times in the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
To understand, to stress, to emphasize the importance of this topic, I decided to give a presentation. Instead of just talking, I drew a presentation. Please don't judge it too strictly. I tried my best.
So I will explain this philosophy of Sankhya because as we spoke about two lectures back, this philosophy is very much necessary for us to understand to deal properly with the energy of the Lord, we can understand the Lord Himself only if we are dealing properly with His energy.
The Lord is Adoksaja, He is not available to our senses at this moment of time. But He is avyakta. But His energy is manifest to our senses.
And if we understand that the Lord is behind his material energy and deal with it appropriately according to this philosophy, then very quickly our consciousness will be purified.
On the contrary, if we forget about this connection between the energy and the energetic source, the Lord Himself, and deal with it separately, then it will become the source of bewilderment for us.
It's māyā. It becomes māyā. As soon as we cut the connection between the Lord and His energy and try to enjoy this energy separately from the Lord instead of using it to serve the Lord, then immediately the bewilderment process takes place and we become entangled in the chain in the endless chain of cause and effect, which is called karma.
So that's why I thought let's do it again.
Material creation and false ego verse
I'm sure you all know very well how we are created, but still still let's let's go through it and I'm also sorry that perhaps there will be some interesting points which we will discover while going through it.
So I will read the verse from the t from the fifth fifth chapter of the third cant of Shimot Bhagavatam, which is very beautifully describes a particular problem which we are dealing with.
It's 29th verse of the 3rd Kanto 5th chapter. Mahatvan Viku Vikurvanat Aham Tattvat Vjajayata Karyakarna Kartritva Kartratma Butende Manomayah. Vaikari kas tajjasasas cha tamasas chay tiaham tridha.
Mahatattva or the great causal truth transforms into false ego which is manifest in three phases: cause, effect, and the doer.
All such activities are on the mental plane and are based on the material elements, gross senses and mental speculation. The false ego represented in three different modes: goodness, passion and ignorance.
That verse is more or less completely describes the whole philosophy of Sankhya, which is of course, much more elaborate, but that's the Sankhya version, abridged version of it.
A pure living entity in his original spiritual existence is fully conscious of his constitutional position as an eternal servitor of the Lord. All souls who are situated in such pure consciousness are liberated.
And therefore, they eternally live in bliss and knowledge in the various Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky. When the material creation is manifested, it is not meant for them.
The eternally liberated souls are called nitya muktas and they have nothing to do with the material creation.
The material creation is meant for rebellious souls who are not prepared to accept subordination under the Supreme Lord. The spirit of false lordship is called false ego. Prabhupada very beautifully encapsulates this idea.
The spirit of false lordship is called false ego. It is manifested in three modes of material nature and it exists in mental speculation only. In other words, it's just the imagination.
The whole material life is more or less a product of kalpana, imagination.
It's more or less a dream, as much as during the dream state the false ego forces us to identify with the false creation of the mind during the dream and we are undergoing certain tribulations.
In the same way, during our wakeful state, the false ego forces us to identify with the gross bodies and subtle bodies. So, but that's all more or less mental speculation only, as Prabhupada says.
Those who are in the mode of goodness think that each and every person is God and thus they laugh at the pure devotees, who try to engage
in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Those who are puffed up by the mode of passion try to lord it over material nature in various ways, some of them engaged in altruistic
activities as if they were agents appointed to do good to others by their mental speculative plans. Such men accept the standard way of mundane altruism, but their plans are made on the basis of false ego.
This false ego extends to the limit of becoming one with the Lord. The last class of egoistic conditions, souls, those who are in the mode of ignorance, are misguided by identification with the gross body, uh, with the
idea of the gross body with the self. Thus all their activities are centered around the body only. All these persons are given the chance to play with the false egoistic ideas,
but at the same time the Lord is kind enough to give them a chance to take help from the scriptures, like Bhagavad-gita and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, so that they may understand
the science of Krishna and thus make their lives successful.
The entire material creation, therefore, is meant for the falsely egoistic living entities hovering on the mental plane under different illusions in the modes of material nature.
Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe.
Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. Śrī-kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
Ajanu-lambita-bhujau kanakāvadātau saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatākṣau. Viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau vande jagat-priya-karau karuṇāvatārau.
Namaḥ praviśya mama vācam imāṁ prasuptāṁ sañjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ sva-dhāmnā. Anyāṁś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam.
So let's start our uh delineation or deliberation on the uh philosophy of creation, Sarga,
Theories of causality in Vedic philosophy
primarily we will touch the first creation, the creation of the elements of this material world according to Srimad Bhagavatam. So the main point which Srimad Bhagavatam it doesn't work unfortunately.
So the main point which Srimad Bhagavatam is trying to prove is beautifully described or encapsulated in the sutra of Vedānta-sūtra, Ātmakṛteḥ Pariṇāmāt.
The world is pariṇāma or transformation made of Himself. The Lord Himself has become the world.
This is the translation of the sutra, which is very much disliked by the māyāvādī philosophers, because it's directly against their philosophy of vivartavāda, it's very clearly said that the world is pariṇāma. From pariṇāma, pariṇāmāt, ātmakṛteḥ.
The Lord is the material upādāna and efficient nimitta cause, upādāna kāraṇa and nimittakāraṇa. And these two very important words which we should know.
The material cause or ingredient from which the stuff from which this world is made, and efficient cause nimittakāraṇa or instrumental cause, the desire behind it, the you
know the classical example of the pot. There are two causes of the pot. One is the clay which is material cause or ingredient cause upādāna kāraṇa.
Another one is potter who is sitting there rotating the wheel and making the pot from the clay? That's nimitta kāraṇa.
And upādāna kāraṇa of the universe, because scripture state that He is the maker of Himself ātmakṛteḥ. And because He can modify Himself through His śaktis.
So it's basically this sutra is the description of śakti-pariṇāma-vāda.
That the Lord Himself is not being changed as much as the potter who is making the pot is not changed in the process of creation of this pot. But His energy, not exactly His, but as much as the example goes, the clay which belongs to the potter undergoes certain transformation, and that's the that's how the world is created.
So, just very briefly, I thought I will mention the theories of causality which are there in Vedic philosophy. Because it's very important for us to understand what our theory of causality is.
Basically there are two types of these philosophies. One says that asat this is asat-kāryavāda, it means that kārya or the effect is not pre-existing in the cause. It's completely new creation.
Like the example which Naiyāyikas, who are proponents of this philosophy give, they say that the cloth, which is the effect of the threads, does not exist in the threads. It's a completely new creation.
So therefore their philosophy, another name of their philosophy is Aramba Vada. Aramba means beginning. It's just something new. Completely new is, created from the cause.
And other school of philosophy which also subscribes to this point of view is Buddhism. They say everything is created from sunya, from nothing.
Another very prominent philosophy which subscribe to this view is of course Charvaka or scientific philosophy. Like scientists, very important.
They say that the consciousness is the product of matter and it's not there in the matter. Just by certain combination of matter, when the matter becomes more and more complex, it's an emergent quality.
So all the time when we're talking about Asatkarya Vada, the effect which is not pre-existent in the cause, we are talking about some emergent qualities, new completely new qualities in the effect which is not there in the cause.
Which is ridiculous. Our Acharyas they give certain arguments against this. They say if the effect was not in the cause, then the any effect can come from any cause. You know, normally you can extract oil from sesame seeds.
Because why? Because oil exists in sesame seeds. The effect exists in the cause. But if the effect was not existed in the cause, then you could take some stones, grind it nicely, and would get the oil, right?
Because you know it's it's a new creation. It's a strange sort of philosophy. But anyway, it's a very prominent philosophy, and believe it or not, we all to a certain extent subscribe to it.
We all think that you know consciousness can be created, or at least to a certain extent, can be created due to evolution of the matter. Another argument against this is that you know matter is unconscious.
So it's like darkness.
And to say that from this darkness, under the certain conditions, from the certain combination of this darkness, the light can come is the same as to say, yeah, you take darkness in the different combinations, and then all of a sudden light will appear.
Light will never appear from darkness. Because it it's not there in the darkness. To start with.
So therefore we are very consistently propounding the theory of Satkariavada, which means that the effect is existent in the cause, that whatever we see basically was pre-existent in its cause, and in a certain way, in a certain in a certain conditions, it was pre-existent. And of course, there are different varieties of this Sat Karyavada.
One is Vivartavada, the philosophy of Mayavadis. They say, yes, the effect pre-existed in the cause, but ultimately the effect is an illusion. The effect does not really exist. It's just an appearance.
It's a superimposition of certain ideas of concepts upon Brahman.
Yes, the cause of all causes is Brahman, but the effect material energy ourselves is just vivarta, it's an illusion. So that's a certain variety of Satkariya Vada.
Another very prominent variety of Satkary Vada is Parinama Vada of Sankhya, of Ishwarakrishna, of Atheistic Sankhya. And they also say that this world is a parinama of Prakriti.
Prakriti is the material cause and Purusha Jiva is the efficient cause. But we don't subscribe to this philosophy either. Our philosophy is called Shakti Parinama Vada.
Yes, Parinama or transformation takes place when the cause is turned into effect, but what is being transformed,
Shakti is being transformed, or the energy of the Lord is being transformed, material energy of the Lord is being transformed, and it creates this variegated creation.
So basically very clearly we have to understand that God is the matter of which His energy, He is the matter of which
this world is created, and He is the designer of this world, He is the idea or the brain behind this world. So, yeah. And Lord is always playing in the spiritual world with his chit shakti.
But he is not always playing with his material shakti. Sometimes his material Shakti becomes avyakta, unmanifest, and sometimes it manifests.
Basically, this temporary material creation which we are dealing with and which we
Role of the Lord's glance in creation
are a part of is sometimes it undergoes transformation. Sometimes it's avyakta, sometimes it's vyakta, sometimes it's destroyed and it goes into unmanifest stage. Sometimes it manifests. But it's always there.
It's an eternal energy of the Lord. It just undergoes different transformations specifically this manifestation and not manifestation.
And then of course in Chaitanya-caritamrita, I will not dwell into this, describes how the transcendental Lord Krishna and Krishna Loka in the highest
abode of the spiritual life of the spiritual world he transforms into his first expansion not transforms but expands into his Vaibhava-prakasha, who is Sri Balaram, whose appearance we celebrated a couple of weeks before.
And then the first catur-vyuha—Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha—is very important. And then twenty-four forms of Narayana from the second catur-vyuha, Vaibhava-vilasa. That's not what we are interested in.
And then, you know, Balaram, Sankarshan, from him Maha- Sankarshan comes forth. He is coming. This is the Lord in Vaikuntha. And then from him, Mahavishnu or Karanadakashayi Vishnu comes.
So here is a very interesting point I need to take away what how to get rid of this stuff? Okay. So this is how it is described in the fifth chapter of the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Very interestingly, it is said that the Lord, when his material energy is sleeping, feels somewhat incomplete. The Lord, the undisputed proprietor of everything, was the only seer Drashta. And he na apashyat drishyam.
He didn't look, he didn't want to look into this drishyam or material energy. Na apasyat. The cosmic manifestation was not present at that time because the Lord just didn't look.
The material manifestation is the creation of the glance of the Lord. When the Lord somehow or other withdraws his glance from the material nature. Material nature disintegrates.
It's very interesting because this concept is very much similar to the concept of the quantum mechanics, when they say that the consciousness of the observer plays an active role in the events which takes place on the microscopic level, on the atomic level.
If the observer observes this, certain events take place, certain events will not take place.
So in a similar way, Vedas and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in particular say that when the Lord glances over the material nature, then different events start taking place.
When he withdraws his glance, it just becomes non-existent for all practical purposes. It becomes non-manifest. But it's very interesting how Prabhupada translates this.
He says, and thus he felt imperfect without his plenary and separated parts and parcels. The material energy was dormant, whereas the internal potency was manifested. He was asiddha.
The Lord who is Drashta, he didn't sleep, he was always engaged in the playful activities in his spiritual world, but the material world was sleeping, supta-śakti. His material energy was in this state of blissful sleep.
But the Lord thought no, something is wrong. And Prabhupada very beautifully explains. just doesn't work. It just doesn't work. Yeah.
Prabhupada very beautifully explains this in the purport, he says that he felt somewhat insufficient, like the husband, like a husband feeling lonely in the absence of his wife. This is a poetic simile.
The Lord wanted to create the cosmic manifestation to give another chance to the conditioned souls who were dormant in forgetfulness. All the souls were sleeping when the material energy is in this unmanifest state.
The cosmic manifestation gives the conditioned souls a chance to go back home, back to Godhead. And that is its main purpose. The Lord is so kind that in the absence of such a manifestation, He feels something wanting.
And thus the creation takes place. So the Lord feels that something is incomplete, that my material energy is not fully manifested, and therefore the material creation takes place.
This is, of course, as Prabhupada says, a poetic simile.
And this is a very beautiful picture which describes how the Lord and his form of Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, who creates different, different universes. He glances over the material creation. It is very interestingly described here. He glances in this universe and then the creation starts taking place. So, this Mahā-Viṣṇu, when he glances, his glance, because he is the Supreme Lord, His glance takes the form of shambu. It's explained in Brahma-saṁhitā. Because the Lord Himself does not touch the material energy.
He is never in contact with the material energy in any way or shape. Therefore, his glance becomes Lord Shiva, or Sada Shiva, who copulates, who unites with Shakti, with the material energy.
And therefore, we have this Shiva Lingam and Yoni. This is the symbol of this material creation, Shiva Lingam and Yoni. But the Lord is the original seer. He looks and his glance becomes Lord Shiva.
And his energy, which is known as māyā or illusion, she becomes his agency and she starts producing different creations.
So the Lord is original Nimitakarana, but his only action is to glance over the material nature and he has nothing to do with it. Otherwise, he is sleeping.
Therefore, it is said that he is in his yoga nidra, he is in his blissful sleep, and all this material creation is taking place more or less automatically according to the laws of material nature.
But originally it's being activated by the Lord, and of course, that's his own energy. That's his wife who is being activated by his merciful glance. And this glance disseminates the living entities.
This glance injects, is injecting, injects the seeds of uh the living entities into uh this māyā into the, into the womb of māyā.
So, yeah, and therefore the material energy uh before it becomes manifest, it's called by different names.
Sometimes it's called avyakta because it's not manifest, sometimes it's called pradhana. Pradhana means the great potential.
Because all the potential is there, but the potential is not realized. So this is the meaning of the word pradhana. And sometimes it's called prakriti. Prakriti prahur. It is called as a prakriti sometimes.
It's just depending. So we have to know different nomenclatures, different names, or different synonyms.
But basically, that's the state of material nature where the three modes are of cause and effect are in complete balance.
The three modes of material nature in this primordial state, when it's not manifest, is completely balanced and totally neutralized. Nothing is happening. So the glance of the Lord disturbs this balance.
And by disturbing this balance, the creation starts taking place and the Lord, as I said, by his glance injects the seeds of the living entities, the jīvas, with their karma which were not manifest and sleeping in his body
into the material nature, but it is it takes place like the union between Shiva and Durga, Sadashiva or Shambhu and Durga, as in this beautiful picture. Sadashiva and Durga they unite together and the creation takes place.
And that's basically what the scientists call big bang. What is big bang? Big bang is when the unmanifest material energy all of a sudden becomes manifest and different, different creations start place.
And you can imagine, you know, how much energy is there in the Lord's glance? It's a it's a tremendous uh source of energy. And uh it uh when it unifies with the material nature, then it's really big bang.
So the big bang definitely takes place in a certain way. That's when the Lord glances over the material nature. And he is virjaan. He is potent. Virjawan virja means cement. He is potent. And he is vīrya-pradaḥ pitā.
Three definitions of time in Srimad-Bhagavatam
He injects the seeds of living entities into this material energy and everything starts taking place.
So Krishna says this in the fourteenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, this mahat, great material energy is Yoni and uh I'm Bhīja-pradaḥ pitā, I'm uh the one who is disseminating the jīvas.
But what is m most important which we should understand while meditating on this, and we can definitely meditate while chanting Hare Krishna mantra, how this creation takes place, you know, there was nothing. And then just Lord looks and whew, the big bang takes place.
But what is most important is that this glance of the Lord, which is Shambhu or Shiva, another name of it is Kalopurush or Eternal Time. This kalapurush or eternal time disturbs the balance of the guṇas.
And this is the definition of time, beautiful definition of time, which is given in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature.
It is unchangeable and limited. And it works as the instrument of the supreme personality of Godhead for his pastimes in the material creation.
In other words, Lord does not touch himself but through the medium of the time of his glance or Śambhu, whatever you call it, he uses this as the instrument. That's the instrument.
What Lord wants to achieve by this instrument, He wants to give us the chance to enjoy and he wants to give us the chance to become frustrated totally in our attempts to become happy in this world and ultimately strive for liberation and achieve liberation through the process of devotional service.
So this is the first definition of the time that's the willpower of the Lord. The willpower of the Lord behind everything which is happening.
When we go to an astrologer and we ask an astrologer what is in store for me in the future? We basically ask what is the what is the will of the Lord?
And ultimately we have to try to meditate on this. This is very important meditation for every devotee. That whatever is happening with me behind this is the will of the Lord. Benevolent will of the Lord.
Not just some cruel will of some cruel creature, no, but merciful will of the Lord behind everything. So this should be our meditation.
Whatever is happening with me, whatever is coming to me, this is something. This is the Lord is talking with me. The Lord wants to say something with me.
Even though He's not talking directly because it's an indirect manifestation of the Lord, nevertheless, it's the will of the Lord. So that's the first thing.
And Kala is time, time made possible our birth in this world, and time will make sure that we will die.
And we will have to accept this inevitable death with gratitude. And with a lot of with a lot of feelings. You know it's basically this meditation on the time as the will of the Lord has to make us grateful to the Lord. To bring our gratitude to the state of very strong emotion which will guide us in this life.
And then another definition of time, which is very common in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kālo guṇa-kṣobhakaḥ. Kāla is, uh, the disturbing element in the guṇas. He is always disturbs the guṇas.
You know, some sometimes we look and we just we just wonder what's going on in the world. It's just time disturbing the guṇas. Sometimes the time brings tamo-guṇa on the top and sattva-guṇa is suffering; he is the loser.
And sometimes rajo-guṇa is more prominent, sometimes rarely in Kali-yuga, sattva-guṇa is prominent. And we say, you know, the world is crazy. No, the world is not crazy.
It's just the time is disturbing guṇas and stirring up different guṇas. And in the same way, the time is stirring up guṇas in our mind. Because our mind consists of three guṇas.
As much as our body consists of vāta, kapha, and pitta, three doshas, our mind consists of sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, and tamo-guṇa.
And we know, you know, in a few hours when the sun will be going down, the tamo-guṇa will be prominent. Why? Because the time will make it prominent. And because tamo-guṇa will be prominent, we will go to sleep.
And then at one point, well, sattva-guṇa will become prominent, we will wake up. We are waking up not because of the alarm clock. It's a misconception.
If the sattva-guṇa would not be prominent at that time in our mind, alarm clock would not help. We would continue sleeping very peacefully. We would not even hear the alarm clock.
But because kāla is constantly regulating the guṇas, the cycle of the guṇas, disturbing the balance of the guṇas and bringing different guṇas into different positions of prominence in this material world, then everything takes place, the creation takes place.
So this is what kāla is doing. And when we take our individual life, we also sometimes think, you know, sometimes we think, my goodness, was I stupid at that time? Why was I so stupid at that time? Because of color.
Kāla who is the agent of daiva of our providence activates tamo-guṇa at a certain point and we become completely bewildered. We become totally stupid. And we cannot do anything, we cannot help anything. We're just stupid and we create stupid things.
Or sometimes we are rājasic, sometimes we are tāmasik. Of course, this is not an excuse to say that, you know, what can I do? Time is doing this to me.
No, but uh we have to understand that yes, there is this influence of time, and we have to harmoniously ourselves uh with the time.
Uh it basically means that when the tamo-guṇa is prominent, we shouldn't go to discotheque and try to agitate the rajo-guṇa. We should go to sleep.
And when sattva-guṇa is prominent, we should not continue sleeping. In the morning, we should wake up and start chanting our rounds.
We should go into this rhythm with the time and this is the way to serve the Lord. This is a part of our service. Why sadhana is so important according to the time, because it's our service to the will of the Lord.
We are trying to harmonize ourselves with this force of the time. That's the second definition of the time which I brought to you.
And the third definition of the time is Kālayati Sarvamiti Kālaḥ. It's an etymological description or definition of the time. Kālayati Sarvamiti Kālaḥ. Kāla is something which puts everything to end.
end. Puts limit, kālayati. Kālayati basically means it measures everything. It measures our life. It says, yes, that's time. Forget it. Finish. Enough is enough. That's it. So it puts the limit of everything which is there.
By the way, if you want to have this presentation, I will be happily uh I will be happy to share it with you. And that's basically for you.
Causes and components of material creation
So but what I want to say now: this is very very important. And very very beautiful point of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
That's from the 10th Kanto, not from the third Kanto, but still it's very consistent with everything which is there in the third Kanto.
This is a beautiful verse which actually is the key to the whole understanding of what's going on with us in our life. It describes two divisions of Maya.
As I said, the Lord Himself is the Nimita Karana and Upadana Karana of this creation. He is the efficient cause and material cause of this creation.
But when he activates Maya, Maya Himself become Upadana Karana, of course, she always was Upadana Karana, but she becomes also Nimita Karana.
The Lord gives the initial push, the initial uh initial how you say uh yes initial push uh initial impetus to creation but then uh the efficient portion of Maya starts working.
That's very important to understand because sometimes devotees they become little bewildered.
So, this beautiful verse of the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes in verse constituents of Upadana Karana and Nimita Karana. What is Upadhana Karana and what is Nimitha Karana of Maya, of this material energy?
Or how our life takes place, what's going on in our life?
So the Nimitha Karana is uh listed or the constituents of Nimitakarana are listed four constituents in the first line of this verse Kalo Kalaha Daivam Karma Jiva Svabhava.
Jiva, the conditioned living entity, his life is determined by Kala by Daiva Providence, Kala time, Karma, his previous actions, and Svabhava, his nature. Dravyam, Kshetram, Prana, Atma, they are the upadana karana.
Dhravya means matter. Kṣetram means the whole material nature, the field of activities, the whole creation, prana means the living force and Ātmā means ahaṅkāra. The certain element.
So these four things, four elements of Nimita Karana of Maya and Upadana Karana of Maya. And it is said here that who is Krishna? Krishna is Mayaisha.
He is the Īśa, the Lord of Maya, tvan-māyā-īśa-tan-niṣedhaṁ prapadye who is capable of stopping Nishedam Prabadi who is capable of stopping this bīja-roha-pravāhas of this flow of material life.
Basically, very beautiful verse. It is said, Tatsangataha. When all these eight elements or nine elements, kāla, daiva, karma, jīva, svabhāva, dravya, prāṇa, and ātmā - they get together. Sangata. That's us.
Whatever we see in the mirror, it's kāla, daiva, karma, jīva, svabhāva, dravya, kṣetra, prāṇa, and ātmā. So next time when you go to the mirror, you can say hello, kāla, daiva, karma, jīva, svabhāva. Don't say it's me.
It's māyā. Whatever you see in the mirror is māyā. And it has two elements in it: Upadana and Nimita. And I will explain this is actually what Sridhar Swami is explaining. What is what?
Tajala is the precipitator, or he's giving the fruits of our activation. Sobak, he is he is disturbing everything. He's working.
Previous actions is the instrumental cause, namely karma, whatever we did has become the cause. The same karma when manifest on the verge of delivering its fruit is called daiva.
In other words, when the karma is about to give us the fruit, we call it providence.
We feel that this is, you know, some... how you say this misfortune is coming to me. Something bad is coming to me, something is going to happen. So that's daiva.
When the karma is ready to give us the fruit, we call it daiva.
Especially the ancient Greeks' philosophy, they were completely fascinated by this force of daiva, and they would say that nothing can divert our daiva, and we all know this.
And then innate disposition, svabhāva is made of unconscious impressions left by karma. In other words, we are working. When the karma is about to bring fruit, we call it daiva.
And when the karma is the constituent of our unconsciousness, subconsciousness, different tendencies. Somebody is angry, somebody is very benevolent, somebody is very lusty, somebody is very envious person.
So all these impressions, they are called svabhāva. It's basically the same names for everything, but this is what nimitta.
This is the efficient cause behind our life. The karma which is being enveloped during our life, this is what is taking place in māyā? And this is all Maya. This is all material energy.
Material energy gives us the chance to realize all these things. Then the jiva, uh the entity, the conditioned living entity, they she is in between or he's in between and these two attributes of māyā are acting on jīva.
The first is Nimita, and the second one is the stuff matter, Upadana Karana. And that's dravya. Dravya means subtle elements which we will now understand,
then the kshetra, which means the whole prakriti, whole material energy, vital force, prāna or sūtra, and then ahaṅkāra or ātmā. And ahaṅkāra is the matter, but at the same time it's kind of in between.
It belongs both to Nimitakarana and Upadana. It's the matter ahaṅkāra and it's also semi-conscious, so it has the impetus inside. I will explain this a little later.
But just to give you the idea how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam beautifully and very consistently explains this material creation.
Nature and purification of Mahat-tattva
This is the whole understanding which we should have of our life.
And basically when Prakriti when the Prakriti the balance of the guṇas in Prakriti is disturbed, the first Prakriti gives rise to mahat-tattva, which is predominantly sattvic.
How does it give rise to mahat-tattva under the influence of time? Everywhere you have to add time. Everywhere, in other words, it's a machine. There is no doubt about it.
The whole material creation is a very big complicated machine. But the time is there and, the time is the will of the Lord, which is using machine for his purposes.
One Sado was asked, how can you prove the perfection of the Lord's will? And he said, It's very easy. I can prove it very easy to you. Whenever I remember myself, it never happens as I want it.
So it means that the Lord's will is perfect. It's basically the Lord's will is being realized or is being fulfilled here in this material creation.
So prakriti by the will of the Lord, when it's agitated by the time, give rise first to mahat-tattva. Okay, okay, let's talk about first mahat-tattva.
So it's a very important first element when the first material element, mahat-tattva, it's a very sattvic element, and in our consciousness it's called chitta.
And chitta, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the 25th chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, has three qualities. Three qualities of chitta is, uh, svacchatva purity, avikāritva, changelessness, and śāntva, peacefulness.
So, the first material element, which is predominantly sāttvik, which we have inside us as contaminated consciousness, but it's very slightly contaminated consciousness, is called chitta or mahat-tattva in the universal scheme of creation.
And this mahat-tattva is very peaceful, very pure, completely changeless. And this is what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu means when he says ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.
In the first verse of Śikṣāṣṭakam he says, we have to bring mahat-tattva back to the original state. We have to bring our chitta by chanting the holy name to the original state. Why?
Because in the original state, when these three qualities of mahat-tattva, purity, changelessness, and peacefulness are very prominent, then what will happen in the original state we are?
If we take away our false ego, if we somehow or other overcome the influence of false ego. We will achieve this state with these three qualities.
Svacchatva purity means bhagavat-bimba-grāhitva. Mahat-tattva can reflect the form of the Lord. When our chitta, our consciousness becomes completely pure, it starts reflecting the form of the Lord.
What is chitta? Chitta is basically this very luminous substance which takes the shape of any object upon which we look. If we look, I'm now looking at this computer. So the only way how I can see this computer is
because my chitta takes the shape of this computer. I think I see the computer. Actually, I don't see the computer. I cannot see the computer. Mind cannot see the computer directly. Mind can only observe mahat-chitta.
So if I look at a pizza, I go somewhere in a restaurant and I see the pizza. Then my mind becomes this pizza. Chitta becomes this pizza. And my mind sees this pizza, and my mind says, "Oh, I like this, I want this pizza.
Only because the chitta took the shape of pizza. So, this is what chitta does all the time.
Whenever we look, or wherever we look, there is a transformation of the chitta, and chitta takes the shape of the object upon which we glance.
It's like, you know, every mobile phones, and in the mobile phone there is the camera. You turn on the camera, and this camera you. you move it.
And immediately the reflection of anything which is in front of this camera is there in the camera. In the same, exact the same way how chitta reacts on the external environment.
It just brings the external environment inside us so that we can work with it, we can proceed with it, we can somehow deal with it. Otherwise, we will not be able to deal with it. So that's what chitta is.
And when the chitta becomes completely clear, clean, then the reflection of the Lord automatically comes to our chitta. We don't need to do anything else, we don't need to imagine anything.
Because when we imagine, we imagine only material things. So we just have to purify the chitta. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. Why?
Because when it becomes completely clear, then the Bhagavad Bimba, the reflection of the Lord, Grahitwam, it will just catch the reflection of the Lord, it will see the Lord Himself.
Therefore, Lord Chaitanya compares our chitta with the mirror because it acts exactly like a mirror. And another quality of chitta is avikaritvam. It's not changing. There is no vikara.
It basically means there is no influence of Laya and Vikshepa of the lower modes of nature. It's predominantly sāttvik, and when the chitta is in its original state, then we don't want to sleep. Why?
Pure devotees, they sleep very little, very less? You know, we know that Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he hardly slept one, two hours. All the Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, they hardly slept. Because there is no laya in their chitta.
Laya means sleep. You know, some people they sleep all the time. They sleep during night, they sleep during the day, they sleep during Bhagavatam class. That's common. Because it's Акча the influence of tamo-guṇa on chitta.
And therefore, if they have this problem, they have to chant more. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Rāma. Then the liar, liar basically means destruction.
Laya means this state of consciousness where when we are not conscious. It's uh we are still conscious because consciousness is the property of the soul. Nobody can deprive the soul from consciousness. But we at the same time we are as if unconscious. During the anesthesia, during the deep sleep or whatever. We are not conscious.
Therefore under the influence of Tamagun. Therefore it's called laya. Laya means destruction. Our consciousness is destroyed at that time. It's covered over.
Vikṣepa means this distracted consciousness. When I, you know, I'm just jumping from one internet page to another internet page, and I just I'm not satisfied with anything else. So this is rajas-guṇa.
So this is all distorted states of consciousness, but original consciousness is avikāritvam. It's very, very changeless, it's very clean.
And the next state, the next quality of mahat-tattva or citta, our original consciousness, when it's clear and pure, it's rāgādi-rahityam. Rāga-ādi, it is free from negative emotions, like rāga, etc., and basically rāga and bhaya, these three most prominent emotions which are there.
So when we purify our citta, there is no fear, there is no attachment, and there is no anger.
And if somebody has very prominent emotions inside himself, it basically means that his citta is still very much contaminated by false ego. So that's what it means.
And this is the illustration of how the clear citta would look like. You see this clear water. And this clear water gives a very distinct and clear reflexion of everything which is there.
And it's very peaceful and it's tasty. You know, when somebody has this pure consciousness, he's very happy.
Śrīla Prabhupāda compares this with the clean water. The clean water is very calm, very peaceful. It reflects everything which is there and it's sweet in taste. So, in the same way, when our consciousness becomes purified, even its material
consciousness, we become very, very happy. When the sattvic element in our consciousness predominates over Rajas and Tamas, then the happiness become our natural state.
So this is what Chitta is, and this is on the universal scheme of creation, is called Mahatva, the first creation, when the time disturbs brings Pradhana into the state of Prakriti, in the state of manifestation.
So the first manifestation is Mahatattva, this amazing chitta in ourselves.
Origin of Sutra-tattva and false ego
When prakriti or manifested material nature is disturbed by Rajas when the Rajas or passion mode of passion is predominant, then it gives rise to sutra tattva.
Sutra tattva, sutra means thread, and sutra basically means this activity which is there.
It is not described in the third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but it is described in the 11th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in a few places there. So Sutra Tattva basically creates prana. We already saw it.
It's a very important constituent of Upadana Karana of this world. Prana, why do we live? We have 10 times of Pranas. So that's the prakriti under the influence of Rajas.
And when the prakriti is under the influence of Tamas, it
creates ahaṅkāra-tattva, the third tattva. So first there is Pradana, Pradhana disturbed by the time, it turns into prakriti. And then prakriti under the influence of sattva-guṇa creates Mahatattva, under the influence of Rajo-guṇa creates Sutra Tattva, under the influence of Tamo-guṇa, it creates ahaṅkāra-tattva.
Or sometimes it is said that ahaṅkāra-tattva is created from Mahatattva. It basically doesn't matter.
And everything, all these transformations are taking place under the influence of eternal time. That's important to remember. So this ahaṅkāra-tattva is very important element which we have to understand.
ahaṅkāra-tattva is predominantly, as we already said, is in the mode of tamas, ignorance, and it consists of the guṇas of Prakriti, Jīva-śakti, and Time.
This is what is explained in this next verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It's from the fifth canto. I didn't give the reference, but it's easy to find. So Amshagula Kalatma, Amshaguna Kalatma.
This Mahatatva, uh which is such a jivas and gunas and kala, it very quickly transforms, uh, into the, uh, ahaṅkāra-tattva, false ego.
So this this jiva with its karma uh which wants to fructify turns the Mahatatva which is undisturbed and very clear and peaceful into this mess which we call material life or material body.
So, and then this mess starts with ahaṅkāra. Ahankara is an extremely important element in this whole scheme of Sankhya, which we have to very thoroughly understand: what is ahankara, what is false ego.
So we have this very clear translucent Mahatva, and when this translucent mahatattva becomes darkened by the false, by the mode of ignorance, by tamo-guṇa, uh, when mahatattva is covered uh by this dark cloud
of vāsanās, of different impressions which we brought with us from past life. It becomes ahaṅkāra. So immediately we don't really know, we don't see the pure Mahatattva or pure Chitta.
Therefore, we have to purify it by chanting Hare Krishna. And ultimately while chanting Hare Krishna it will destroy the false ego.
Therefore, it is said that on a certain level of chanting, somebody becomes tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā. becomes completely peaceful, completely happy, completely humble, completely tolerant, completely respectful, no ego whatsoever. He's ready to respect anyone. Why?
Because his ego was completely destroyed by this chanting process.
But when this dark cloud or false ego is darkening or clouding or covering our consciousness. Then we only have little rays of light which is sometimes coming through this consciousness.
But otherwise, we have the complete mess of material emotions, material ambitions, material desires, and we constantly deal with this creation
of ahaṅkāra which, which we brought ourselves. So basically, ahaṅkāra, it consists of vāsanās, of all the impressions, very deep impressions. And we bring this with us the little poor jiva like this man who is climbing over, he takes huge,
huge, huge, huge burden of ahaṅkāra. You know, this ahaṅkāra is so big. You know, I. When Russia became free Russia, there were some rich people, and this rich people they started building big, big, big, big, big palaces
to all to themselves. And I was wondering why do they need such a big place? And I realized they have such a big ahaṅkāra, so it just doesn't fit into a small kitchen, you know, it needs more space.
So it's a big burden and it's very dark. That's what we have to understand. And that's the reference point. We will at the end.
Beautiful pictures how Ayurveda explains this whole thing. This ahaṅkāra actually limits us. It's the tāmasika boundaries of our consciousness.
And when our consciousness becomes more pure, uh, it becomes expanded, uh, but it always expands up to
the limits of ahaṅkāra, you know, somebody like Prabhupāda explains this in the purport which we chant, somebody may, uh, you know, he's, uh I am a very altruistic person, I'm doing some welfare activities.
But that's his ahaṅkāra. It's bigger. It's bigger than the ahaṅkāra of a person who is concerned only with his own interest.
But still it's false because it has the tāmasika boundaries, tāmasika limits, and it's basically the false expression of my particular desire to lord it over material nature.
Therefore, it's tāmasika from beginning to end. And therefore, in any spiritual discipline, we have to be very careful about ahaṅkāra.
If we—if the false ego becomes strengthened, fortified, enforced, reinforced by certain activities, certain things, we have to stop this.
If something which we are doing is reinforcing our false ego, we have to really stop it because it's very counterproductive.
And that's the tenth offense to the Holy Name. We will never be able to chant the Holy Name properly if we stick to this conception of "I and mine".
This ahaṁ mameti concept, when it's there, we will always be offensive in our chanting. So therefore, we have to practice freedom from mahā-ahaṅkāra. And therefore, we have to know what ahaṅkāra is.
And the verse which we read with you, this is the verse on the screen.
If you see it, it's called that ahaṅkāra has three constituents: kārya, kāraṇa and, uh, kartṛtvātmā, kart— kartṛtvā, kārya, kāraṇa, kartṛtvā, and so karya basically means the subtle senses, the sense perceptions, karana means this body or gross sensus.
And kartitva is the this the sens that I'm doing this. Basically what it means, why Prabhupada translates this: it's Manomayah, it's all taking place in the mind.
When we are interacting with this world, we identify with the senses, with this body, and there is a very exciting process.
We go to supermarket and we buy a lot of different things and we think how successful I am, how happy I am.
But it's all taking place in the mind because it's all this identification with either the subtle senses, with gross senses of the body or with the I-consciousness. I'm the duer.
So it basically means that I can grossly identify with the body.
I can more subtly identify with the senses of the body, or I can identify with whatever I created so to speak my possessions. And we have to stop this identification, because it's ultimately false.
Yeah, this is the description of this on the basis of the different verse, but the same thing. Kartaritvam, Karanatvam, and Karyatvam.
Deities of the senses, so subtle senses, subtle senses, gross senses, and deities of the senses.
Three modes and energies of false ego
Anyway, so what ahankara does. Ahaṅkāra means this false identification which is predominantly in the mode of tamas. And it is trividha, as it is said here in this verse which we read.
Trividha means then tāmasika ahaṅkāra in its turn becomes sāttvika, rājasika, and tāmasika. It's all tāmasika. Because it's tāmasika in the beginning.
But it's tāmasika with little more sattva in it, it becomes Vaikārika ahaṅkāra, tāmasika ahaṅkāra with little more rajas in it becomes taijasa ahaṅkāra and tāmasika ahaṅkāra, which is completely tāmasika, becomes Bhūtādi ahaṅkāra or tāmasa ahaṅkāra.
And therefore, we have in our body, we have three śaktīs: jñāna-śakti, which is coming from ahaṅkāra in sattva. That's jñāna-śakti.
We have kriyā-śakti, the activity, the energy of you know the our mind our ahaṅkāra but basically we are studying our ahaṅkāra our ahaṅkāra the false ego uh first uh manifestation of ahaṅkāra. I know. We all know.
I am right. Everyone is wrong. Because I know. Why? Because our ahaṅkāra have jñāna-śakti, we know something. But when we say I am right, everyone is wrong, then you know we are manifesting false ego, ahaṅkāra.
And everyone is of this opinion. I'm right, everyone is wrong, and whoever is of the same opinion, he is right, but whoever has different opinion, he is wrong. That's the first manifestation.
The second manifestation of ahaṅkāra is kriyā-śakti. What Ahankara forces us to do, I have to show everyone that I know the truth and therefore I will act and I will show that I am the most successful.
So Kriya Shakti, look at me. I am I'm the duer, I'm the president, whoever, Trump or Lukashenko or whatever. So this is the hero. I am the creator. I am doing this. This is sahaṅkāra. And look at me.
This is the center of creation. My activities are the most important activities. You know, all these people who... Why people become so intoxicated with power? Because when they are in the position of power,
everyone is just looking for what they're doing. And that's basically the whole game of material life. The whole game of material life is to force our other living entities to think about us.
Actually, the success of our life is measured, how much we can force other people to think about us. Therefore, that's you know that's what everyone is doing.
You know, the wife is trying to force the husband to think about her, and the husband is trying to force the wife to think about him. And the little baby is more successful because everyone thinks about him.
So that's what is going on. This is kriyā-śakti. Look at me. What am I doing?
I remember we once had a prasāda and we were sitting on the floor. There was probably around 20-25 devotees, many, many devotees around this prasadam on the floor.
And then there was a little baby he was at that time, maybe two years old, yeah, less than three years old, maybe one year old, or whatever.
And he was trying to draw the attention, but nobody could care less about him because everyone was serving prasāda very enthusiastically.
So ultimately, what he did, he just kind of made his way and he stood right in the center of this prasāda together and look around. Just look at me. I'm here. I'm the center. You're not looking in the proper place. Here I am.
This is rajasika ahaṅkāra, kriyā śakti. And tamasa ahaṅkāra. When ahaṅkāra becomes very tamasi, then the person he measures.
When uh he has sāttvika ahaṅkāra, he measures his success in life of how much he knows. He is, you know, he's a very knowledgeable person.
When the person has rajasika ahaṅkāra, he measures his success in life by how much he achieves his achievement, all his different,
you know, different say uh but when his uh ahaṅkāra becomes tamasic, then he measures his success in life or how much he owes. Uh how much stuff, how much dravya, how much matter is around him.
You know, so this is very, very tamasic manifestation of ahaṅkāra, which is a very, very tamasik itself, uh, but that's uh thamasic in uh in square. So uh I'm you are still with me.
You are not too bored by this presentation. I will very quickly go through the rest because I wanted to say something very important about how it is very practical what we study.
We already, we already got the point how we should clean our citta and to which extent we should clean our citta, to the complete cleanliness when there is no ahaṅkāra whatsoever, which is the state of niṣṭhā.
Niṣṭhā is the state where the third verse of Śikṣāṣṭaka describes this state.
And in this state, uh we start getting some idea of God because our citta consciousness becomes very pure and some dim reflection of God, uh some Some experience of God is there.
Before that, it's just very theoretical. concept. It's just not very real.
Functions of mind and controlling deities
So, vaikārika ahaṅkāra in the mode of goodness creates mind and the ten deities, ten deities which govern our senses. And mind has basically two functions, saṅkalpa and vikalpa. Mind, what is mind?
As I said, chitta reflects the world, chitta takes the shape of certain objects and mind looks at this shape and comparing with the previous experiences which we have with the subconscious mind, says, oh, this I like and this I don't like.
Basically, these two functions of the mind: this I like and this I don't like, accepting and rejecting. Saṅkalpa and Vikalpa.
Basically, this whole scheme of Sankhya is explaining the process of interaction with the world, perception, cognition of the world. So first we see reflection of the external world in our
chitta, then the mind says this is good, this is bad. Sorts it out. And this is something neutral, this is something in between. Not very good, not very bad.
Ahaṅkāra, in the beginning, first we see something, then immediately ahaṅkāra, uh, starts acting, and ahaṅkāra says, uh, or says, does it have anything to do with me? It relates the particular object which is within our vision to us. Does it have anything to do with me?
And if it's something which has nothing to do with me, we just don't see it.
You know, there are so many things around us which we practically don't notice because it has nothing to do with us, it's not related to us, it's not really referenced to us.
Like you know the men may go by a shop where the you know the beautiful dresses, women dress is being sold. But he will not notice anything.
You know, you ask him just a split second later, what was there? He will say, nothing was there. Why? Because it's not related with his ego.
It has nothing to do with his ego unless he wants to buy a birthday present to his wife. But it's probably useless to try to choose something for your wife. You're not sensitive enough.
But if the woman comes, she will immediately see this in great details. Why? Because ego says, yes, yes, this is something which belongs to you. So the ego appropriates things. It's very important.
This process of appropriation or relation to ourselves, we do all the time, this is related to me, this is, this is mine, uh, so we always say, this is mine, this is mine, this is mine, uh, and, uh, this is not mine I don't need it.
So, but then the mind, when something is ours, When something went through the filter of our false ego and drew our attention, then the mind says, oh, this is very good, or this is very bad.
So this is what the mind says, basically, with the help of the, uh, deities, because we cannot really see without the deities. It's not a question of our eyes to see. It's a very peculiar element of the whole philosophy.
We will not be able to see anything unless the sun god is there. Of course, we know that sun god gives light. And he facilitates our vision in this way, but also subtly sun is within us.
The partial representation of sun god is within us facilitating our vision.
Therefore, you know, if, if the vision becomes blurred, we have to purify, you know, there is a process of curing some diseases, diseases of cognition, as well, in Ayurveda, which is called Daiva Vya Pashra.
When we pacify certain deities. You know, we do certain yajna or certain process or chant certain mantra to this deity and it improves our vision or our smell of lottery or capacity or whatever.
All these capacities which are there. So the ten deities and the mind, the passive mind, which sorts it out.
Role of intelligence and sense organs
So now taijasāhaṅkāra in the mode of passion gives rise to the senses and it also gives rise to buddhi, to intelligence.
It gives rise to five knowledge- acquiring senses: eyes, nose, tongue, skin, and ear, and five working senses. The ear, the hand, the anus, the genitals, the legs, and the tongue.
The tongue is both working sense and knowledge acquiring sense. So, and this is the passion. So, these 10 deities and the mind, ten senses and buddhi from ahaṅkāra in the mode of passion.
And basically what buddhi means, buddhi means our our cognition or perception, the clarity of our perception. When we look, it's actually very interesting.
Buddhi means our ability to perceive things properly in their broader context. People have very hard time to define what intelligence is. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives a very beautiful hint what intelligence means.
Intelligence doesn't mean the ability for abstract thinking.
Intelligence means to recognize properly the object which is within our vision in the context, in the broader context, in the context of cause and effect relationship and everything else.
So the Buddhi makes sense of what we see. Cheetah gives the picture of what we see. Ahaṅkāra sorts it out according to how it relates to us. Like for example, we hear a so Very you know loud sound all of a sudden.
And then immediately ahaṅkāra, uh, tries to see, does it have anything to do with us? Is it dangerous? Is it some sound which is alarming to us and we have to do something?
Or it's not related, it's just, you know, neighbors, they're, you know they they have happy family life and they're very loudly expressing their happiness in this way.
So when ahaṅkāra sorts it out, then immediately you, you, you don't even hear. Because it's not related to you.
They may be quarreling but you don't see because you're absorbed in something else and you don't want to know anything about it. So Manas says, is it pleasant or not?
We hear the sound, and let's say it has something to do with us. And then manas immediately says, oh, yeah, this is such a nice sound, let, let's hear more. It's a nice sound. Nice music is coming.
Oi-oi-oi, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. But what buddhi does: buddhi defines this the element which defines what this means for us in a broader sense. Ahaṅkāra immediately defines whether it's dangerous for us or not.
This survival instinct is there in ahaṅkāra, in our false ego, and immediately this reaction, fight or flight, is there in ahaṅkāra. If it's something dangerous, we will run away, and then you know, after some time we will realize that it was nothing dangerous, and we will become a little embarrassed and come back.
But what Buddhi means it's a more slow process. It receives some sort of signal from outside of the world and it makes sense out of it.
So, therefore, the Buddhi is the main element which helps us to make sense out of our life. The Buddhi is the main element which helps us to understand the cause and effect.
The broader, the sharper our buddhi, the better our understanding of cause and effect, and ultimately we, will be able to understand the cause of all causes if the buddhi is expanded.
So, this is another very important function: the buddhi, intelligence, the perception, and therefore you know the definition of buddhi it's not according to IQ.
The test for IQ only determined certain capacities of a man like abstract thinking, you know the how you relate to the space and everything. But real Buddhi is to understand the connection of the things. Interconnections.
Cause and effect, different things. You know, the most intelligent person is somebody who sees and he sees not only the surface of a phenomenon, but the cause behind it, and the whole behind it, and the cause behind it.
And the deeper I am able to see the cause the causes or causal relationship of this phenomenon, the more intelligent I am.
So therefore, this emotional intelligence is a very interesting concept, because emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize one's own emotions and emotions of other people, which are very subtle.
So when your buddhi becomes very developed, then you not only see the appearances, you see the internal emotions, and therefore, and you see the causes of these internal emotions and you relate with other people accordingly.
So that's the very important element of Buddhi. And that's basically from n yeah. And from Tamasika ahaṅkāra, all the from Tamasika ahaṅkāra, oh no. All the elements are taking place.
Tamasika ahaṅkāra, it's not vaikārika, it's a mistake, it's tāmasa, bhūtādi ahaṅkāra. In ahaṅkāra, from Tamas first sound, sound gives rise under the influence of time to ether. Ether gives rise to touch.
Touch gives rise to air. Ather gives try to form. Form gives right to fire. Fire gives rise to taste. It's again, a mistake, first taste, and then only water, and then it gives rise to smell and then earth.
There are two mistakes here. First, the subtle element, and then this subtle element or the sense object. And then the sense object creates the element.
Complete summary of the creation scheme
So this we will not go into the details because I already are talking too long. I just give a little conclusion to this. First, this is the whole scheme of creation.
Krishna, Krishna looks at Pradhana, Krishna in his form of Mahā-Viṣṇu, looks at Pradhana, Pradhana is turned into Prakriti, it becomes revived, and Prakriti gives rise to Mahatva, Mahatva gives rise to sūtra tattva and to ahaṅkāra tattva, and ahaṅkāra tattva gives rise
to demigods, minds, elements, ten senses, buddhi, and 10 objects of the senses. That's very simple sort of creation of the Lord, which is like machine but which we should not be deceived by it.
Should not be fooled by the appearance. We should not be turn desire is to make the nature exploitable, but the nature is not exploitable. If we try to exploit it, we will be suffering.
So this little conclusion from the third canto of all the physical elements beginning from the sky down to earth, all the inferior and superior qualities are due only to final touch of the glance of the Supreme Personality of God.
In other words, everything takes place under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛti sūyate sacarācaram. Everything is going on under my glance, Maya Adyakshan, Maya Adyaksha.
But let me say a few very important words which I still wanted to say. How it is related to us, because we have ahaṅkāra, and it means that we have to see what does it have to do with us.
So we studied the element of cīta, we studied the element of ahaṅkāra, we studied the element of buddhi and manas. And they all four constitute antaḥkaraṇa, the internal sense.
The external world which we see around us, we can perceive only through the media of this antaḥkaraṇa, the internal sense. And we don't see the external world as it is because our internal organ is contaminated.
If our internal organ is not clear we will see only the perverted reflection of the external world and we will not relate with it properly.
Therefore, Chatadharpanamarjanam, the first and foremost duty of any living entity who wants success in life, who does not want to become foolishly successful through his ahaṅkāra. He has to purify the consciousness and to make successful the interaction, the proper interaction.
If our consciousness is not proper, we will interact in the wrong way. We will turn on our Our ahaṅkāra will become violent.
Our consciousness or our interaction with the world will be full of violence, anger, and all other emotions.
So, but what I wanted to say very interestingly the first element which is there is the element of ether, which is called here nabha, nabhasa.
And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam defines the element of ether as prāṇendriya-prāṇendriyātma-diśṇyatvam. It's the meeting place of prana, Indriya, and mind.
Śrīla Prabhupāda says it's accommodation room for external and internal existences and the field of activities for vital air, senses and the mind.
This all takes place in the ether, even though mind and the senses and the prana they are more subtle. They act within the space, within ether. And basically, it means what is ether?
Ether is the original element where the waves are created.
Initially, when the Western scientists started studying this, and when they discovered the electromagnetic waves and they discover that the light has the nature of the waves and this waves they can go through the through the vacuum.
So they said that there should be some sort of substance. Ather what is being varied? So this substance which is being varied is ether. Very interestingly, please listen very carefully. This is my last gift to you today.
So this prāṇa, indriya and mind they're functioning within the space.
It basically means that what we will have our mind is functioning within the space, it basically means that the mind has the nature of the waves within the space.
And Indria, the subtle senses, they have also the nature of the waves, and prana has the nature of the waves. Like Naiyāyikas they say that the mind is atomic. Yogis they say the mind is all-pervading. So what is it?
Is it atomic or all-pervading?
It's both. It's both atomic and all-pervading. Because it's functioning within the space, so as much as the electron is both atomic and uh it has the wave nature, nature of the wave, and the nature of the particle.
So the same thing is with our mind.
Ayurvedic views on states of mind
So what we will see, this is what I promised to you from Ayurveda. Ayurveda says how the mind functions. The mind, because it has this nature
The mind, or citte and other functions are included into citte because citte is the uh you know uh we are talking when we're talking here about the mind, we are talking about antaḥkaraṇa, all the elements.
So when the sattva predominates, the mind becomes expanded. Because the outer cons the outer covering of the mind is the tamasic covering of the ego. Here it is said. See, this is the or orange circle is tamas.
So, when the mind, or sattvic portion of the mind becomes expanded, we feel happiness. Because that's the nature of sattva.
And normal state of mind in Ayurveda is the mind where sattva is more prominent and this sattvic nature of the mind, when the sattva is more prominent, is the happy state of the mind.
When rajas becomes more prominent, sattva becomes shrunk, like in the second picture. And Tamas becomes also quite prominent.
And when the tamas, of course, becomes very prominent, then the sattva becomes very small, and we practically lose consciousness.
So it's this three pictures is the description of three states of mind: happy mind, distorted mind, and completely tamasic or unhappy mind.
The happiness betokens expansion of the mind in the space. When the mind expands, it becomes very happy.
And ultimately when uh the covering of ahaṅkāra is removed, uh the sattvoguṇa, the mind can become expanding more and more and more, including everyone else, and ultimately including Krishna into the picture.
We will be able to understand Krishna when we remove this hard covering of the false ego. So basically, the spiritual life means the expansion of the sattvic portion of the mind or expansion of our mind.
And therefore, certain things are forbidden. What things are forbidden in religion?
All those things which bring our consciousness to shrink. Because ultimately it makes us unhappy and it it doesn't help us to understand the reality. Whereas the broad mind can understand the reality more properly,
the broader it is. And therefore, Ayurveda classifies the mind in many, many different classes. This is all human beings. But there are human beings who are like whose consciousness are like trees consciousness. Tarukaja.
Or matjakaya. There are human beings whose consciousness are like fish consciousness. Or prasahakaya.
So uh there are these tāmasik, more rājasik, and many more, more uh sāttvik consciousness, and the consciousness expands, expands, and expands.
And this is what we are doing by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, we are removing the negative elements of our mind and helping it to become more expanded, to understand the reality in the broader context.
And this is: when we look at this picture, we will be able to track down the contracted consciousness of people who don't understand that there is a cause of all causes, God. Because their mind is too narrow.
They are too narrow-minded to understand that there is a cause of all causes. They just cannot understand this at all. So there are many more consequences, very important consequences of this scheme which I explained.
The beautiful scheme of creation according to the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But ultimately, it's all there to remove this misconception that I can enjoy by interacting with this material nature.
If I interact improperly with this material nature, trying to get the illegal enjoyment, forbidden enjoyment, then my consciousness will only contract, it will only bring unhappiness, and
it will ultimately be very counterproductive because it will bring me to the lower state status of life.
So I should interact with this consciousness, with this matter, with this energy of the Lord, according to the desire of the Lord.
And the Lord desires me to interact with this matter in such a way that my consciousness expands. And when the consciousness expands, I become undisturbed.
Why when the consciousness is very narrow, it's very easy to disturb somebody.
If we take a little small uh fish uh how do you call it fish pond? aquarium fish fish box anyway the the box where they people keep fishes you know uh uh fish bowl yeah so the you put something little and there will be a lot of splash.
But you put you know you put big fish into this small fish bowl, and it will just disturb everything. But the same fish in the ocean will not disturb the calmness of the ocean.
So the point is that because our mind has this nature of the waves, when the mind is broad, then the waves which we have in the mind, even if it's disturbance which is coming from outside, they will not be so disturbing.
But if the consciousness is very narrow, that anything can throw us out of balance, can disturb us, can make us very agitated and very you know foolish and counterproductive.
So basically, it's for our own sake that we have to expand our consciousness, and the expansion of our consciousness is coming by the chanting of the holy name and by leading the satvik way of life.
This is how we expand on our consciousness and ultimately we will have to remove all the tamasic elements which are exemplified by the false ego, and see the beautiful reflection of the Lord in our cheta. So that's it.
And uh unfortunately, I have to leave right now. I will have to say thank you to you and uh please forgive me for such a long class, but uh and if you want this presentation I'll give it to you. No problem.
The class was absolutely wonderful and there are some good questions coming in from Radha Pramot Prabhu from his con Brune. Next time. Next time I will definitely answer.
We can start with the answering the questions next time. I will have to rush now. Okay. So Radha Pramot Prabhupada, please keep your questions and uh in the next two weeks we are going to connect with Maharaj again. Yes.
Uh yeah? So that'll be uh yeah. So next Friday, but the Friday next. So I'll send you the details and you can have the questions ready.
Yes. So Maharaj, uh we'll not hold you as you have to go. Thank you very much again for your kind association. It was absolutely wonderful, in-depth um you know study that we did today. We have many questions.
We'll begin the next session with some questions then. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much.