typo

Lord Brahma is the first created being within this universe and is empowered by the Supreme Lord to create. Tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye: the adi-deva, or adi-kavi-the first living creature-was personally taught by the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the heart. There was no one to teach him, but since the Lord is situated within Brahma's heart, Brahma was educated by the Lord Himself. Lord Brahma, being especially empowered, is infallible in doing whatever he wants. This is the meaning of the word amogha-radhasa. He desired to restore Hiranyakasipu's original body, and therefore, by sprinkling transcendental water from his waterpot, he immediately did so.    (More...)

The three activities of religion, economic development and sense gratification are generally attractive for conditioned souls struggling for existence in the material world. Such regulated activities prescribed in the Vedas are called the karma-kandiya conception of life, and householders are generally recommended to follow the rules just to enjoy material prosperity both in this life and in the next. Most people are attracted by such activities. Even in the activities of their modern godless civilization, people are more concerned with economic development and sense gratification without any religious sentiments. As a great emperor of the world, Maharaja Pariksit had to observe such regulations of the Vedic karma-kandiya section, but by the slight association with Sukadeva Gosvami he could perfectly understand that Lord Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead (Vasudeva), for whom he had a natural love since his birth, is everything, and thus he fixed his mind firmly upon Him, renouncing all modes of Vedic karma-kandiya activities. This perfectional stage is attained by a jnani after many, many births. The jnanis, or the empiric philosophers endeavoring for liberation, are thousands of times better than the fruitive workers, and out of hundreds of thousands of such jnanis one is liberated factually. And out of hundreds of thousands of such liberated persons, even one person is rarely found who can firmly fix his mind unto the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna, as it is declared by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 7.19). Maharaja Pariksit is specially qualified with the word mahamanah, which puts him on an equal level with the mahatmas described in the Bhagavad-gita. In the later age also there were many mahatmas of this type, and they also gave up all karma-kandiya conceptions of life, solely and wholly depending on the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna. Lord Caitanya, who is Lord Krsna Himself, taught us in His Siksastakam [8]:    (More...)

In the Bhagavad-gita, "mad-dhama" ("My abode") is mentioned several times, and according to the version of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna there exists the unlimited spiritual sky wherein the planets are called Vaikunthas, or the abode of the Personality of Godhead. In that sky, which is far, far beyond the material sky and its sevenfold coverings, there is no need of the sun or the moon, nor is there necessity of electricity for illumination because the planets are self-illuminating and more brilliant than the material suns. Pure devotees of the Lord are absolutely in harmony with the Personality of Godhead, or in other words, they always think of the Lord as their only dependable friend and well-wisher. They do not care for any mundane creature up to the status of Brahma, the lord of the universe. They only can definitely have a clear vision of the Vaikuntha planets. Such pure devotees, being perfectly directed by the Supreme Lord, do not create any artificial perplexity in the matter of transcendental understanding by wasting time in discussing what is Brahman or what is not Brahman or maya, nor do they falsely think of themselves as one with the Lord, or argue that there is no existence of the Lord separately, or that there is no God at all, or that living beings are themselves God, or when God incarnates Himself He assumes a material body. Nor do they concern themselves with many obscure speculative theories, which are in actuality so many stumbling blocks on the path of transcendental understanding. Apart from the class of impersonalists or nondevotees, there are other classes also who pose themselves as devotees of the Lord but at heart maintain the idea of salvation by becoming one with the impersonal Brahman. They manufacture their own way of devotional service wrongly by open debauchery and mislead others who are simpletons or debauchees like themselves. All these nondevotees and debauchees are, according to Visvanatha Cakravarti, duratmas, or the crooked souls in the dress of mahatmas, or the great souls. Such non-devotees and debauchees are completely excluded from the list of transcendentalists by presentation of this particular verse by Sukadeva Gosvami.    (More...)

To prepare oneself for the better next life, one must get out of one's so-called home. The system of varnasrama-dharma or sanatana-dharma prescribes retirement from family encumbrances as early as possible after one has passed fifty years of age. Modern civilization is based on family comforts, the highest standard of amenities, and therefore, everyone expects to live a very comfortable life after retirement in a well furnished home decorated with fine ladies and children, without any desire to get out of such a comfortable home. High government officers and ministers stick to their prize posts until death, and they neither dream nor desire to get out of homely comforts. Bound by such hallucinations, materialistic men prepare various plans for a still more comfortable life, but suddenly cruel death comes without mercy and takes away the great planmaker against his desire, forcing him to give up the present body for another body. Such a planmaker is thus forced to accept another body in one of the 8,400,000 species of life according to the fruits of the work which he might have performed. In the next life, generally, persons who are too much attached to family comforts are awarded lower species of life on account of sinful acts performed during a long duration of sinful life, and thus all the energy of the human life is spoiled. In order to be saved from the danger of spoiling the human form of life and being attached to unreal things, one must take warning of death at the age of fifty, if not earlier. The principle is that one should take it for granted that the death warning is already there, even prior to the attainment of fifty years of age, and thus at any stage of life one should prepare himself for a better next life. The system of the sanatana-dharma institution is so made that the follower is trained for the better next life without any chance of the human life being spoiled. The holy places all over the world are meant for the residential purposes of retired persons getting ready for the better next life. Intelligent persons must go there at the end of life, and for that matter, after fifty years of age, to live a life of spiritual regeneration for the sake of being freed from family attachment, which is considered to be the shackle of material life. One is recommended to quit home just to get rid of material attachment, because one who sticks to family life until death cannot get rid of material attachment, and as long as one is materially attached, one cannot understand spiritual freedom. One should not, however, become self-complacent simply by leaving home or by creating another home at the holy place either lawfully or unlawfully. Many persons leave home and go to such holy places, but due to bad association, again become family men by illicit connection with the opposite sex. The illusory energy of matter is so strong that one is apt to be under such illusion at every stage of life, even after quitting one's happy home. Therefore, it is essential that one should practice self-control by celibacy without the least desire for sex indulgence. Sex indulgence, for a man desiring to improve the condition of his existence, is considered to be suicidal, or even worse. Therefore, to live apart from family life means to become self-controlled from all sense desires, especially sex desires. The method is that one should have a sitting place duly sanctified, made of straw, skin of the deer and carpet, and thus sitting on it one should chant the holy name of the Lord without offense, as prescribed above. The whole process is to drag the mind from material engagements and fix it on the lotus feet of the Lord. This simple process alone will help one advance to the highest stage of spiritual success.    (More...)

Even Brahma, the creator of the universe, admits that he is not the actual creator but is simply inspired by the Lord Narayana and therefore creates under His superintendence those things which are already created by Him, the Supersoul of all living entities. Two identities of soul, the Supersoul and the individual soul, are admitted to be in the living entity, even by the greatest authority of the universe. The Supersoul is the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, whereas the individual soul is the eternal servitor of the Lord. The Lord inspires the individual soul to create what is already created by the Lord, and by the good will of the Lord a discoverer of something in the world is accredited as the discoverer. It is said that Columbus discovered the Western hemisphere, but actually the tract of land was not created by Columbus. The vast tract of land was already there by the omnipotency of the Supreme Lord, and Columbus, by dint of his past service unto the Lord, was blessed with the credit of discovering America. Similarly, no one can create anything without the sanction of the Lord, since everyone sees according to his ability. This ability is also awarded by the Lord according to one's willingness to render service unto the Lord. One must therefore be voluntarily willing to render service unto the Lord, and thus the Lord will empower the doer in proportion to his surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord. Lord Brahma is a great devotee of the Lord; therefore he has been empowered or inspired by the Lord to create a universe like the one manifested before us. The Lord also inspired Arjuna to fight in the field of Kuruksetra as follows:    (More...)

As we have already quoted above from the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of Rupa Gosvami, even mundane things, if dovetailed in the service of the Lord Sri Krsna, are accepted as transcendental. For example, the epics or the histories of Ramayana and Mahabharata, which are specifically recommended for the less intelligent classes of men (women, sudras and unworthy sons of the higher castes), are also accepted as Vedic literature because they are compiled in connection with the activities of the Lord. Mahabharata is accepted as the fifth division of the Vedas after its first four divisions, namely Sama, Yajus, Rk and Atharva. The less intelligent class of men do not accept Mahabharata as part of the Vedas, but great sages and authorities accept it as the fifth division of the Vedas. Bhagavad-gita is also part of the Mahabharata, and it is full of the Lord's instruction for the less intelligent class of men. Some less intelligent men say that Bhagavad-gita is not meant for the householders, but such foolish men forget that Bhagavad-gita was explained to a grhastha like Arjuna and spoken by the Lord in His role as a grhastha (family man). So Bhagavad-gita, although containing the high philosophy of the Vedic wisdom, is for the beginners in the transcendental science, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is for graduates and postgraduates in the transcendental science. Therefore literatures like Mahabharata, the Puranas, and similar other literatures which are full of the pastimes of the Lord, are all transcendental literatures, and they should be discussed with full confidence in the society of great devotees.    (More...)

Srila Sukadeva Gosvami is referring to the highest Vedic authority, Lord Brahma, who is the qualitative incarnation of Godhead. The Vedas were taught to Brahmaji in the beginning of the material creation. Although Brahmaji was to hear Vedic instructions directly from the Personality of Godhead, in order to satisfy the inquisitiveness of all prospective students of the Vedas, Brahmaji, just like a scholar, studied the Vedas three times, as is generally done by all scholars. He studied with great attention, concentrating on the purpose of the Vedas, and after scrutinizingly examining the whole process, he ascertained that becoming a pure unalloyed devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna is the topmost perfection of all religious principles. And this is the last instruction of the Bhagavad-gita directly presented by the Personality of Godhead. The Vedic conclusion is thus accepted by all acaryas, and those who are against this conclusion are only veda-vada-ratas, as explained in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 2.42).    (More...)

The Personality of Godhead is not a dead stone, nor is He inactive, as is poorly thought by some schools. He moves with the progress of time, and, therefore, He knows all about the past and future, along with His present activities. There is nothing unknown to Him. The conditioned souls are driven by the reactions of the modes of material nature, which are the activities of the Lord. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 7.12), the modes of nature act under His direction only, and as such no natural functions are blind or automatic. The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and as such, the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived. The Vedas say that the Supreme Lord has nothing to do personally, as is always the case with superiors, but everything is done by His direction. As it is said, not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. In the Brahma-samhita (verse 48), it is said that all the universes and the heads of them (the Brahmas) exist only for the duration of His breathing period. The same is confirmed here. The air on which the universes and the planets within the universes exist is nothing but a bit of breathing of the unchallengeable virata purusa. So even by studying the rivers, trees, air and the passing ages, one can conceive of the Personality of Godhead without being misled by the formless conception of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 12.5) it is stated that those who are much inclined to the formless conception of the Supreme Truth are more troubled than those who can intelligently conceive of the personal form.    (More...)