The Characteristics of Form
А. Ч. Бхактиведанта Свами Прабхупада · Бомбей · 1975
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Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Nature of material elements and senses
[devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.] SB 3.26.39द्रव्याकृतित्वं गुणता व्यक्तिसंस्थात्वमेव च ।तेजस्त्वं तेजसः साध्वि रूपमात्रस्य वृत्तयः ॥३९॥dravyākṛtitvaṁ guṇatāvyakti-saṁsthātvam eva catejastvaṁ tejasaḥ sādhvirūpa-mātrasya vṛttayaḥMy dear mother, the characteristics of form are understood by dimension, quality and individuality. The form of fire is appreciated by its effulgence.[break] SB 3.26.39द्रव्याकृतित्वं गुणता व्यक्तिसंस्थात्वमेव च ।तेजस्त्वं तेजसः साध्वि रूपमात्रस्य वृत्तयः ॥३९॥dravyākṛtitvaṁ guṇatāvyakti-saṁsthātvam eva catejastvaṁ tejasaḥ sādhvirūpa-mātrasya vṛttayaḥMy dear mother, the characteristics of form are understood by dimension, quality and individuality. The form of fire is appreciated by its effulgence.
Prabhupāda: So little explanation is there. This is the transformation of the elements, how from sky, the air; from air, the fire; fire, water.
Everything in that proportion is explained by Sāṅkhya philosophy, how one after another, the form, taste, smell, touch are appreciated in different objects differently.
Just like some eatable things—the form is appreciated by taste. The flower—the form is estimated by its smelling, aroma. So that is being explained. [aside:] You can read the purport.
Nitāi: "Every form that we appreciate has its particular dimensions and characteristics. The quality of a particular object is appreciated by its utility. But the form of sound is independent.
Forms which are invisible can be understood only by touch; that is the independent appreciation of invisible form."
Prabhupāda: Just like the air. We cannot see, but we can touch. The air passes. It touches our body. We can understand, "Now the air is passing." Then?
Nitāi: "Visible forms are understood by analytical study of their constitution. The constitution of a certain object is appreciated by its internal action.
For example, the form of salt is appreciated by the interaction of salty tastes, and the form of sugar is appreciated by the interaction of sweet tastes.
Tastes and the qualitative constitution are the basic principles in understanding the form of an object."
Eternal form and omnipresence of Krishna
Prabhupāda: So actually, everything has got form, and there is—why not?—the form of God also.
He has got virāḍ-rūpa, and He has got small, also, rūpa. We have got experience of the virāḍ-rūpa in the Bhagavad-gītā. But that is not permanent rūpa. Permanent rūpa of Kṛṣṇa = dvi-bhuja-muralīdhara. He has got two hands and playing on flute.
That is permanent rūpa. Virāḍ-rūpa, as it was shown to Arjuna, it is called naimittika, "under certain conditions." That is not eternal rūpa. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta... Anādi, eternal.
The eternal rūpa is described in the śāstra, BS 5.30वेणुं क्वणन्तम् अरविन्द दल आयत अक्षंवर्हावतंसम् असित आंबुद सुन्दर अङ्गम् ।कन्दर्प कोटि कमनीय विशेष शोभम्गोविन्दम् आदि पुरुषं तमहं भजामि ॥ ३० ॥veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam-barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgamkandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁgovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiI worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.
The eternal form is veṇuṁ kvaṇantam: Kṛṣṇa is always playing on His flute. That is eternal form. His eternal pastimes and eternal form is in Vṛndāvana. He does not go anywhere personally, leaving Vṛndāvana.
Padam ekaṁ na gacchati. He is always in Vṛndāvana, but at the same time He is everywhere. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ
= "Although He is always in His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, still He is present everywhere." How He is present? Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati = "He is situated in everyone's heart." He is situated in each and every universe. The universe is created by His breathing.
BS 5.48यस्य एक निश्वशित् कालम् अथ अवलम्ब्यजीवन्ति लोम बिलजा जगन्दण्ड् नाथाः |विष्णुः महान् स इह यस्य कला विशेषोगोविन्दम् आदि पुरुषं तमहं भजामि ॥ ४८ ॥yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambyajīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥviṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣogovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiBrahmā and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahā-Viṣṇu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahā-Viṣṇu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahā-Viṣṇu is the portion of portion.
So the eternal form is Kṛṣṇa, but Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is the origin of material creation, kalā-viśeṣa, He is the expansion of the plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa = Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna.
In this way He is present everywhere. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He is bigger than the biggest and the smaller than the smallest. Relativity. Now here we are small stature.
So Kṛṣṇa is present in a stature so that we can touch Him, we can dress Him, we can decorate Him. Similarly, in other planets... It is relative. The law of relativity is going on everywhere. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān.
Engaging the mind and senses
So we have several times explained, bhakti means to engage all our senses in the service of the Lord. Our sense of seeing, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, hands, legs—everything should be engaged for Kṛṣṇa's service.
All different parts of the body can be engaged. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
Kṛṣṇa can be served by all our senses according to the direction of the śāstra and guru—sādhu, śāstra, guru. Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. He is devotee. We have to follow. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ
The senses...
The mind is the chief of the senses, and immediately under the mind, ten senses are working, ten = five knowledge-gathering senses, jñānendriya, and five working senses, karmendriya. And they have got different types of activities—hands, legs, tongue, ear, eyes.
And above these, there is ahaṅkāra, false ego in the material world. The eleven senses, and the twelfth is the false ego. The false ego means I am thinking, "I am this body.
I am body." Then expansion of body = "I belong to this family"; "I am the husband of this body"; "I am the father of this body"; "I am the brother of this body." Or "I belong to this nation"; "I belong to this species." This is called twelfth conception.
It is different consciousness according to different body. And then "It is mine." With all these eleven senses, I form an idea of "I" and then my possession, "mine." Ahaṁ mameti
Janasya moho 'yam. This is called illusion, māyā. So mind. It is expansion of the mind, different way. Mānasa-vṛtti. This is called the characteristic of the mind.
Then subtle action of mind = thinking, feeling, willing. And the mind is expanding in hundreds, thousands, millions of ideas. In this way I am becoming entangled.
Achieving perfection through bhakti yoga
So when this mind is controlled... The yoga system is for that purpose.
Those who are too much bodily concept of life, bodily consciousness, they should practice this yoga—haṭha-yoga, aṣṭāṅga-yoga—so that the mind can be purified.
As soon as the mind is purified, then all this expansion into thousands and millions of ideas will be controlled, and the only idea will be Kṛṣṇa. This is called yoga system, concentrating.
Dhyānāvasthita yogena paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ. Dhyānāvasthita-manasā: "The mind is controlled, and the focus of the mind is on Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu." Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ
Then we can see the effulgence, and the localized, and then the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So any system of yoga, either haṭha-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or... Karma-yoga is in the lowest standard.
And above all, bhakti-yoga. Then, when you come to the bhakti-yoga, that is the perfection of life. Bhakti-yogena manasa samyak praṇihite amale
Bhakti-yogena amala: "The mind becomes cleansed." Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam
That is the effect of..., direct effect of bhakti-yoga. Because the mind is now contaminated, and under the creation of senses and sense activities, we are making millions and trillions of ideas and become entangled in that idea.
We have to accept millions and trillions of body and then go on in the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease. This is implication. So purify the mind.
That is the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. When our mind is cleansed...
This is mahā-dāvāgni. This expansion of mental ideas, thousands and millions, that is mahā..., bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. So it is the duty of guru to get out his disciple from the bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam. Kāruṇya, kāruṇya.
Spiritual guidance and holy names
So what is the guru? Guru has received the kāruṇya. Kāruṇya means just like the cloud has received water from the sea, similarly, a guru, spiritual master, receives the cloud of mercy from the ocean of kindness of Kṛṣṇa.
Ghanāghanatvam. And it is only the cloud that can extinguish the forest fire, saṁsāra. No other watering system will be helpful. If there is fire in the forest, your fire brigade or buckets of water will not help.
It is impossible. Neither you can go there; neither you can render any service by your fire brigade and bucket. Then how the fire can be extinguished?
Ghanāghanatvam. If there is cloud in the sky and if there is rainfall, then the expansive forest fire can immediately be extinguished. So that cloud is supposed to be the spiritual master. He pours water. He pours water.
Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana What is that water? The water is this śravaṇa-kīrtana. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni, the fire, the forest fire of material existence, is blazing continually.
So you have to extinguish it by the rainfall from cloud, and that rainfall means śravaṇa-kīrtana. Śravaṇa means hearing, and kīrtana means chanting. This is the only way. Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana.
In this way Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised that harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam In this age, Kali-yuga, it is very difficult to perform the yoga system.
This is also yoga, bhakti-yoga. Other yoga system is very difficult to execute. It is not possible.
Even if it is possible—it may be possible for one or two persons—but bhakti-yoga is so nice that even a small child can practice it.
We see practically the small children, they also taking part in it, without any education, without any culture, without any knowledge, automatically chanting, dancing, taking caraṇāmṛta, offering respect to the Vaiṣṇava.
Automatically it is becoming. And that makes his life successful. Bhakti-yoga is so nice. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt Even little bit practiced, it will never go in vain. It will be an asset.
Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ In this way... Just like if you put a one single paisa in the bank deposit, that is your money. It will be never lost. And when it becomes a lump sum, the bank asks you to...
Credit you get, one hundred rupees or similar.
Similarly, bhakti-yoga is so nice that whatever you acquire, intentionally or unintentionally, even if you neglectfully chant Hare Kṛṣṇa by imitating others, by joking others, it will have effect.
There is a verse in Nṛsiṁha-Purāṇa that one Muhammadan died calling hārāma. They say hārāma. Anything against their religion is called hārāma. So he was trapped by a boar, and the boars, the pigs, they...
The Muhammadans, they call it hārāma. So when he was attacked, he said hārāma. So hārāma. But it was taken as "Hā Rāma," "O Rāma," and he was liberated. So it is so nice.
Some way or other, practice "Hā Kṛṣṇa, Hā Rāma." Then your life is successful. Thank you very much.
Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]