Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.10 – September 9, 1976, Vṛndāvana

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Pradyumna: Translation: "All different varieties of atmaramas [those who take pleasure in atma, or spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone, including liberated souls."

Prabhupada: Read the purport also.

Pradyumna: "Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained this atmarama sloka very vividly before His chief devotee Srila Sanatana Gosvami. He points out eleven factors in the sloka, namely (1) atmarama, (2) munayah, (3) nirgrantha, (4) api, (5) ca, (6) urukrama, (7) kurvanti, (8) ahaitukim, (9) bhaktim, (10) ittham-bhuta-gunah and (11) harih. According to the Visva-prakasa Sanskrit dictionary, there are seven synonyms for the word atmarama, which are as follows: (1) Brahman [the Absolute Truth], (2) body, (3) mind, (4) endeavor, (5) endurance, (6) intelligence and (7) personal habits.

"The word munayah refers to (1) those who are thoughtful, (2) those who are grave and silent, (3) ascetics, (4) the persistent, (5) mendicants, (6) sages and (7) saints.

"The word nirgrantha conveys these ideas: (1) one who is liberated from nescience, (2) one who has no connection with scriptural injunction, that is, who is freed from the obligation of the rules and regulations mentioned in the revealed scriptures like ethics, Vedas, philosophy, psychology and metaphysics, etc. [in other words the fools, illiterate, urchins, etc., who have no connection with regulative principles], (3) a capitalist, and also (4) one who is penniless.

"According to the Sabda-kosa dictionary, the affix ni is used in the sense of (1) certainty, (2) counting, (3) building and (4) forbiddance, and the word grantha is used in the sense of wealth, thesis, vocabulary, etc.

"The word urukrama means 'the one whose activities are glorious.' Krama means 'step.' This word urukrama specifically indicates the Lord's incarnation as Vamana, who covered the whole universe by immeasurable steps. Lord Visnu is powerful, and His activities are all-glorious, and He has created the spiritual world by His internal potency and the material world by His external potency. By His all-pervading features He is everywhere present as the Supreme Truth, and in His personal feature He is always present in His transcendental abode of Goloka Vrndavana, where He displays His transcendental pastimes in all variegatedness. His activities cannot be compared with anyone else's, and therefore the word urukrama is just applicable to Him only.

"According to Sanskrit verbal arrangement, kurvanti means to doing things for someone else. Therefore, it means that the atmaramas render devotional service unto the Lord not for personal interest but for the pleasure of the Lord, Urukrama.

"Hetu means 'causal.' There are many causes for one's sense satisfaction, and they can be chiefly classified as material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation, which are generally desired by progressive persons. As far as material enjoyments are concerned, they are innumerable, and the materialists are eager to increase them more and more because they are under the illusory energy. There is no end to the list of material enjoyments, nor can anyone in the material universe have all of them. As far as the mystic powers are concerned, they are eight in all [such as to become the minutest in form, to become weightless, to have anything one desires, to lord it over the material nature, to control other living beings, to throw earthly globes in outer space, etc.]."

Prabhupada: So this sloka is still more elaborately explained in the Caitanya-caritamrta. This is the summary. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained this verse in sixty-four ways, each word explained-and how many ways each word can be explained-and from all angles of vision He has proved that Krsna is all-attractive. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu's scholarship... Of course, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; there is no comparison to His excellence in every respect. Six opulences. Na caitanyat para-tattvam param iha . That is explained by Kaviraja Gosvami. Sad-aisvaryaih purno ya bhagavan iha sa svayam ayam , Sri Caitanya-candra. He has explained like that. Sad-aisvaryaih purnah-all knowledge, all beauty, all strength-everything in full. Purnam. Purnam idam. Purnat purnam udacyate . He is purna, and whatever He does, that is also purna. You cannot find any defect in the creation of the Lord. In the arrangement of maintenance and in the arrangement of annihilation you cannot find out any flaw. Perfection. Purna.

So Krsna is purna in every respect, and if we take to Krsna consciousness, shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna-sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh [SB 9.4.18]-if we fix up our mind always at the lotus feet of Krsna, then everything will follow very perfectly. That is promised by Krsna. Tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam [Bg 10.10]. If one is engaged always in love and affection... Not as official love. Ecstatic love, spontaneous, that is wanted. That example is here in Vrndavana. At least, as we get information of Vrndavana from the sastras, from Srimad-Bhagavatam, how spontaneously the inhabitants of Vrndavana-the gopis and the cowherds boys and the birds, beasts, the calves, the animals, the trees-everyone, even the flies, the bees, the insect, even the dust, the grass-everyone is..., they are all cinmaya, spiritual. They are not material. But they are attracted to Krsna in different varieties. Ittham-bhuta-guno harih.

[break] ...varieties are not of matter. Here in this material world the varieties are of material, external energy, bahiraṅga, bahiraṅga-sakti. There are three manifestations of Krsna's energy. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc Madhya 13.65, purport]. That is the Vedic injunction, that the Lord's energy is manifested in varieties-not impersonal. If we study very intelligently, then we can understand how Krsna's energy is working in varieties. You study even one flower, you'll see how varieties of color and arrangement of the petals, everything. Don't think as the rascals, they say "nature." What is nature? Nature is an instrument, just like typewriter. You're typewriting... You are typewriting, not that the typewriter typewriting. That is a mistake. Those who are less intelligence, poor fund of knowledge, they see that the typewriter is working. No. The typewriter means the person who is using the machine, he is... Just like this microphone. Microphone is not talking; I am talking. It is an instrument. Similarly, what we call nature, that is an instrument only, not that nature is working. Nature is dull. What is this microphone? It is made of dull matter. It cannot work. But a human being has arranged these material things in such a way...

The material elements means earth, water, air, fire. A scientist means or a craftsman means he can utilize the ingredients in such a way. Just like this temple: it is a composition of earth, water and fire. Tejo-vari-mrd vinimayah. Tejo means fire, and vari means water, and mrt means earth. So what is this building? It is... You have collected earth and shaped it into a brick, and then put it with water, and then put into the fire-it becomes brick. Then you smash it, powder it, it becomes mortar. Then you set up. In this way... The, originally, tejo-vari-mrt: fire, water and earth. So the fire, water, earth has not made this nice temple. It is the person, the brain, the engineer, the architect-they have made.

So this is a wrong idea, that matter is doing independently. That is not possible. Therefore it is clearly said in the Bhagavad-gita, mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram [Bg 9.10]. Matter does not work. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His different energies, He is working. That is Krsna. You have to understand like that. Krsna is in the background. In another place in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, aham adir hi devanam [Bg 10.2]. If you say that Lord Brahma has created, because he is the creator of this universe... Deva, there are three principle devas: Brahma, Visnu, Mahesvara. Krsna says, aham adir hi devanam. Actually that is the fact. Even Brahma is originated from Visnu's navel; therefore Brahma's name is Padma-yoni. And he, when he was created, he saw everything dark, so he was instructed to undergo tapa-these are explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam-then he was given the intelligence how to work. So even a person like Brahma is also instructed by Krsna how to create. So any person, any ingredient, any matter, everything is working under the direction of Krsna. Therefore His name is Krsna. So Caitanya-caritamrta: the author of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta advises, Kaviraja Gosvami, that,

Siddhanta. How Krsna is great. Ittham-bhuta-guno harih. Therefore it is said how Krsna is great. God is great. In the Western world, they say "God is great," but one does not know how He is great. That you will find in the Vedic literature. Just like in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, ittham-bhuta-guno-harih: He's so great. That you have to learn from Srimad-Bhagavatam. Simply to know God is great, it is good. But how He is great, how He is working, that we have to take lessons from the Vedic literature. You cannot find such information anywhere, in any book throughout the whole world. So there is no question of studying Vedas from a sectarian point of view. For the sake of knowledge, everyone should study this Vedic literature. And it is summarized in Vedanta-sutra. Therefore it is called Vedanta-sutra. Sutra means summarized. Athato brahma-jijnasa.

Now these two words, atha atah brahma-jijnasa-four words-it contains volumes of knowledge. Therefore it is called sutra. Janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]. They are Brahma-sutra. Brahma-sutra padais caiva. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that brahma-sutra padais caiva hetumadbhir viniscitam [Bg 13.5]. The truth, Absolute Truth, is fixed up by Brahma-sutra. So Brahma-sutra explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Brahma-sutra is the summary of the whole Vedic literature. Because in future people will misinterpret. Therefore the author of Brahma-sutra, Vyasadeva, made a natural comment, and that comment is Brahma-sutra bhasya, the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Don't be misguided by rascals, that "Srimad-Bhagavatam is written by somebody else. It is not written by Vyasadeva." These are rascals' proposition. This is given by Sri Vyasadeva, and he is the author of Brahma-sutra. Lokasyajanato vidvams cakre satvata-samhitam [SB 1.7.6]. This is satvata-samhitam. So we have tried to explain this satvata-samhitam in English for study of the whole world, because English can be understood, or it can be translated easily. So these activities are going on. And we are very much thankful to you that you are cooperating. So in India you may find some difficulty. Still, your valuable cooperation is required for the benefit of the whole world. Lokasyajanato vidvams cakre satvata-samhitam.

We have to spread the transcendental qualities of Krsna. Krsne parama-puruse. Yasyam vai sruyamanayam krsne parama-puruse, bhaktir utpadyate [SB 1.7.7]. That is the life's mission. So as far as possible, try to understand. As advised by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, siddhanta baliya citte na kara alasa, don't be lazy. Always try to understand Krsna, siddhanta, by siddhanta, by Vedic conclusion, not by manufacturing ideas. Siddhanta. Don't be lazy. That is the instruction of Kaviraja Gosvami.

If you study according to the Vedic conclusion, don't manufacture ideas and whims and sentiments... If you go through siddhanta, then you'll be more and more firmly fixed up. Iha haite krsne lage sudrdha manasa. Then your life is successful.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupada. [end]