PURE BHAKTI. part 10. AND IMPORTANT NOTES.

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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:47pm

Krsna and Radha, Goloka

Krsna's supreme ontological position is elaborately defined in Sad-sandarbhas of Sri Jiva Gosvami, esp. Krsna-sandarbha.

Sruti references:

- superior to devas:

tad visnoh paramam padam sada pasyanti surayah
diviva caksur atatam visnor yat paramam padam

The wise continuously see the highest abode of Visnu. (Rg Veda 1.22.20)

tamid garbham prathamam
dadhra apo yatra devahsamagachanta
visve ajasya nabhavad hy ekam arpitam
yasmin visvani bhuvanani tasthuh

The waters, they received that germ primeval wherein the gods were gathefed all together. It rested set upon the Unborn's navel, that One wherein abide all things existing. (Rigveda 10.82.6)

- by name:

apasyam gopam anipadyamana ma ca para ca pathibhis carantam
sa sadhricih sa visucir vasana avatirvati bhuvanesv antah

I saw a cowherd. He never falls from his position; sometimes he is near, and some times far, wandering on various paths. He is a friend, decorated with a variety of clothes. He comes again and again to the material world. (Rg Veda 1.164.31)

The name "Krsna" is also mentioned in Rg Veda 1.116.23, 8.74.3,4, etc.

yasmat param naparam asti kincid
yasman naniyo na jyayo'sti kascit
vrksa iva stabho divi tisthaty ekas
tenedam purnam purusena sarvam

There is no one greater than Him. There is no one smaller or larger than Him. By this person everything becomes complete. He is situated firmly like a tree, surrounded by effulgence. (Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.9)

esa atma 'pahata-papa vijaro vimrtyu visoko
vijaghatso'pipasah satya-kamah satya-sankalpah

That soul is without sin, without old age, without death, without lamentation, without hunger, without thirst, fully truthful and whose wish is always fulfilled. (Chandogya Upanisad 8.1.5)

ayam atma sarvesam bhutanam madhu ayam atma sarvesam
bhutanam adhipatih sarvesam bhutanam raja

This soul is the honey for all living entities. He is the Lord of all living entities, the king of all living entities. (Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 2.5.14-15)

sa yadi sakhiloka kamo bhavati sankalpad evasya sakhayah
samuttistanti tena sakhilokena sampanno mahiyate

If He desires friendship, by his wish, friends appear and with them He can obtain satisfaction. (Chandogya Upanisad 8.2.9)

na tatra suryo bhati na candra-tarakam
nema vidyuto bhanti kuto'yam agnih
tam eva bhantam anubhati sarvas
tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati

Neither sun, moon, stars, lightning, what to speak of fire, can reveal the Supreme. Rather all the luminary objects, in accordance with the Lord, receive their own existence. Everything rests on the existence of the Lord. (Katha Upanisad. 2.2.15)

vedaham etam purusam mahantam
aditya varnam tamasah parastat
tam eva viditvatimrtyum eti
nanya-pantha vidyate'yanaya
sarvatah pani padam tat sarvato'ksi siro mukham
sarvatah srutimatloke sarvam avrty atitisthati

I know that great person as transcendental to the material world, self illuminating like the sun. The jiva, knowing Him, surpasses death. There is no other path for crossing death. His hands and feet are spread everywhere. His eyes, head, mouth and ears are everywhere. He exists spreading himself in all things. (Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.8.16)

na sandrse tisthati rupam asya
na caksusa pasyati kascanainam
hrda hrdi stham manasa ya enam
evam vidur amrtas te bhavanti

His form is beyond material sense perception. No one can see Him with material eyes. Those who, by meditation, know him who is situated in the heart, attain liberation. (Svetasvatara Upanisad 4.20)

tam isvaranam paramam mahesvaram
tam daivatanam paramam ca daivatam
patim patinam paramam parastad
vidama devam bhuvanesam idyam

You are the Lord of all other controllers such as Brahma and Siva. You are the Lord of all the devatas such as Indra. You are the Lord of all the prajapatis. You are superior to the supreme. We know you as the ultimate object of all prayers and eulogies; the Supreme Personality who is keen on performing wonderful pastimes. (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.7)

nirdosa purna guna grahatma tantre
niscetanatmaka-sarira-gunais ca hinah
ananda-matra-kara-pada-mukhodaradih
sarvatra ca svagata-bheda-vivarjitatma

The Supreme Lord is endowed with all qualities in perfect, without birth, maintenance and destruction common to material bodies. His body is conscious, devoid of material qualities, composed of bliss. His form is devoid of distinctions between of body and possessor of the body, quality and possessor of the quality, devoid of internal difference. (Narada Pancaratra)

- analogy: Krsna - king, sakti-tattvas - queens, jiva-tattvas - their children, maya - children's teacher/minder (empowered to punish them)

- as asat (Vs 2.1.17,18)

"Objection: Taittiriya Upanisad 2.6.1 states 'In the beginning was asat.' The Supreme Lord is sat. How can asat coexist with sat? Reply: In this context, asat means 'unmanifest' and sat means 'manifest.' Both are attributes of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Because He has no material qualities, the Supreme Lord may be called asat (nothing, void)." "'Sat' and 'asat' indicate whether a thing is perceptible or not, not whether it exists or not." Also see Vs. 2.1.6, 2.4.3, SB 3.5.25, 10.87.29.

- devotional service is eternal (no merging into the Lord) (SB 3.25.34)

naikatmatam me sprhayanti kecin
mat-pada-sevabhirata mad-ihah
ye 'nyonyato bhagavatah prasajya
sabhajayante mama paurusani

na - never; eka-atmatam - merging into oneness; me - My; sprhayanti - they desire; kecit - any; mat-pada-seva - the service of My lotus feet; abhiratah - engaged in; mat-ihah - endeavoring to attain Me; ye - those who; anyonyatah - mutually; bhagavatah - pure devotees; prasajya - assembling; sabhajayante - glorify; mama - My; paurusani - glorious activities.

A pure devotee, who is attached to the activities of devotional service and who always engages in the service of My lotus feet, never desires to become one with Me. Such a devotee, who is unflinchingly engaged, always glorifies My pastimes and activities.

Vs 3.3.47: "In his transcendental abode, the Supreme Lord eternally enjoys His devotees' personal service. He declares Himself dependent upon the love of His devotees. There is no question of Him ending their loving service, which He values more than anything else, by merging His devotees' identities into His own."

- eyes (irises) of dark blue color (Krsna-karnamrta 26,45)

- "full knowledge of Krsna": to know 5 subjects of BG - isvara, jiva, prakrti, kala, karma, and also His avirbhava and tirobhava as transcendental

- not known even to Brahma, Siva etc. (SB 4.29.42-44, 6.3.14-15, 8.12.10)

- "Because the Supreme Lord is the only cause, all names (e.g. the names of demigods) are really only His names." (Vs 1.4.28, Bhallaveya sruti, Skanda P.)

- in Dvaraka (outside of Vrndavan) as Vasudeva expansion (SB 3.1.34p.)

- 'leaving His body' (Mahabharata Mausala Parva... SB 1.14.8p., 3.4.29p. - His body in this world is from virat-rupa, 5.19.12, TLC 14, 3.4.33 - kridayopatta-dehasya - body accepted for pastimes in moral world), considered 'false lila' to fool the atheists (CC M 23.117-118 - illusory stories in Mahabharata etc.; see Krsna-sandarbha).

- life goal:

etavan eva loke 'smin
pumsah svarthah parah smrtah
ekanta-bhaktir govinde
yat sarvatra tad-iksanam

etavan - this much; eva - certainly; loke asmin - in this material world; pumsah - of the living entity; sva-arthah - the real self-interest; parah - transcendental; smrtah - regarded; ekanta-bhaktih - unalloyed devotional service; govinde - to Govinda; yat - which; sarvatra - everywhere; tat-iksanam - seeing the relationship with Govinda, Krsna.

In this material world, to render service to the lotus feet of Govinda, the cause of all causes, and to see Him everywhere, is the only goal of life. This much alone is the ultimate goal of human life, as explained by all the revealed scriptures. (SB 7.7.55)

- life stages: (according to Visvanatha Cakravarti commentary)
appearance on Sravana Krsna Astami (=8th day, July 19/20, 3228 BCE)
3 years and 4 months - in Gokula, then He moved to Catikara
3 years and 4 months - in Vrindavan
3 years and 4 months - in Nandagram
at 10 years leaves for Mathura where He lives upto His 28 years and 4 months
leaves for Dvaraka for the next 96 years and 8 months
speaks Bhagavad-gita at Kuruksetra battle (aged 90) (3138 BCE)
at 125 years ends His pastimes on the Earth (February 18, 3102 BCE)

- lilas - different versions: (Atma-tattva das) "Brahma lives very long time and during his life many Ramayanas take place. In every kalpa there is a little difference in them." Sastras must be understood through acaryas.

- "lotus feet" - meaning: SB 1.8.22: pankaja-anghraye - unto You, the soles of whose feet are engraved with lotus flowers (and who are therefore said to possess lotus feet)
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:45pm

Supersoul

- how to distinguish between S. and mind: Supersoul speaks first and silently, the mind as second but loudly. It speaks in harmony with guru/sastra/sadhu.

- speaks only to the pure devotees (SB 4.29.50p.): Astaratha Das: two-way communication with pure devotees, intuition also in case of common people (who don't know its source)

- directs individual soul (fulfills his desires by directing his body) (SB 4.24.64p., 4.29.60p.)

- reminds him how to act according to his advancement (SB 7.14.38)

- "The Supersoul coming out of the body (of the jiva) enters the impersonal brahmajyoti." (BG 15.18p. - quote from Chandogya Upanisad 8.12.3)

- size: "Others conceive of the Personality of Godhead residing within the body in the region of the heart and measuring only eight inches, with four hands carrying a lotus, a wheel of a chariot, a conchshell and a club respectively." (SB 2.2.8)
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:45pm

On his way to material world the soul is given three chances by Krsna (in the form of 3 Visnus) to stay in the spiritual world by taking shelter of any of Them. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati says in the purport to Brahma-samhita 5.16 that when the souls emanate from Mahavisnu they can surrender to Him and live in Vaikuntha:"The innumerable jivas as spiritual particles emanating from the oversoul in the form of pencils of rays of effulgence, have no relation with the mundane world when they come to know themselves to be the eternal servants of the Supreme Lord. They are then incorporated into the realm of Vaikuntha. But when they desire to lord it over Maya, forgetting their real identity. the egotistic principle Sambhu entering into their entities makes them identify themselves as separated enjoyers of mundane entities."
According to SB 3.20.16 when they collectively appear in Hiranyagarbha (Garbhodakasayi Visnu) they can surrender to Him and live in Brahma-loka: "From the navel of the Personality of Godhead Garbhodakasayi Visnu sprouted a lotus flower effulgent like a thousand blazing suns. This lotus flower is the reservoir of all conditioned souls, and the first living entity who came out of the lotus flower was the omnipotent Brahma. Purport: It appears from this verse that the conditioned souls who rested within the body of the Personality of Godhead after the dissolution of the last creation came out in the sum total form of the lotus. This is called hiranyagarbha."
According to SB 4.21.36 when the soul appears in human form by the mercy of Paramatma (Ksirodakasayi Visnu) he gets the chance to receive knowledge from guru, to perform devotional service and to return back to Godhead. If he does not take advantage of it he falls into sense gratification and samsara: "There is specific mention of the word gurum, which indicates the Supreme Personality as caitya-guru. The Supreme Godhead in His Paramatma feature is present in everyone's heart, and He is always trying to induce the individual soul to surrender unto Him and to engage in devotional service; therefore He is the original spiritual master."
SB 4.29.4 p.: "Originally the living entity is a spiritual being, but when he actually desires to enjoy this material world, he comes down. From this verse we can understand that the living entity first accepts a body that is human in form [SB 9.24.58 p. - Brahma's], but gradually, due to his degraded activities, he falls into lower forms of life - into the animal, plant and aquatic forms. By the gradual process of evolution, the living entity again attains the body of a human being and is given another chance to get out of the process of transmigration. If he again misses his chance in the human form to understand his position, he is again placed in the cycle of birth and death in various types of bodies."
SB 11.16.42: Therefore, control your speaking, subdue the mind, conquer the life air, regulate the senses and through purified intelligence bring your rational faculties under control. In this way you will never again fall onto the path of material existence. (...na bhUyaH kalpase 'dhvane).

The reason _why_ we, the souls, left Lord's blissful association is our small independence. We can choose to stay with the Lord or not. This is our eternal nature of marginal potency (tatastha-sakti). We thought that the kingdom of Maya is worthy to check out. When we leave the spiritual world we are captured by Maya and when we realize our fault we try to get back. Lord would like us to stay with Him but He doesn't bar us from leaving Him. Out of His mercy, however, He is all the time with us as the Supersoul and helps us in many ways. And when we come back to our original position He is more happy than us. The odyssey of the fallen soul is illustrated in the Brhad-bhagavatamrta 2 by Sanatana Gosvami and the Biblical parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11 onward).

- four imperfections: (SB 10.13.15p.) karanapatava (imperfect senses), pramada (tendency to be illusioned), bhrama (committing mistakes), vipralipsa (tendency to cheat).

- size of (a human) thumb: (Mahabharata, Satyavati akhyana) Yama forcibly dragged the thumb-like soul from the body of Satyavan (aNguSThamaatram puruSam niScakaRSa balaa yamaH - Ta. 10.38.1 (Taittiriya Aranyaka?)) This seems to refer to jiva covered by a subtle body.

- spiritual qualities (8) sought by: (Vedanta-sutra 1.3.18)

"The term dahara does not refer to the jiva, because the dahara is the source of eight spiritual qualities sought after by the jiva (apahata-papa - freedom from sins, vijara - freedom from old age, vimrtyu - freedom from death, visoka - freedom from material distress and happiness, vijighatsa - freedom from hunger, apipata - freedom from material desire, satya-kama - spiritual desire, satya-sankalpa - self-fulfillment)."

- unlimited number: SB 3.6.8, 11.31.13 (asesa), 7.7.38 (asesa dehinam), Paramatma-sandarbha 47.1

- always some in the material world: "Srila Jiva Gosvami poses the following question: Since devotional service easily awards one liberation, isn't it possible that everyone will be liberated and the world will no longer exist? The great acarya answers that there is no such danger, since it is very difficult for envious, duplicitous, sensuous persons to faithfully serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and there is no shortage of such people in the world." (SB 10.60.54 p.)
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:43pm

Jiva (soul)

- floats in prana in the heart cavity (Katha Up. 1.3.1); prana is one but acts in different ways, movement of prana leads to identification with the body (SB 4.29.71), lower pranas control the senses and are under the control of main prana controlled by the Paramatma according to desire and karma of the soul. Consciousness is spread all over the body through blood (also moving due to prana). Soul controls the pranas in a sense that he enjoys their movements. Demigods control the pranas in a sense that they define the activities of the senses (Surya is lord of sight because the sun defines what is visible to the eyes.) Real master of the eye is Paramatma.

- model of interaction with gross and subtle bodies and Paramatma: Schools of Dvaita Vedanta in agreement with Vedas (Rig Veda 1.164.20-22) and Upanishads (Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.1, Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3.20, 4.6-7) teach that jiva/atma and Paramatma are situated in the body like two birds on a tree. Their mutual interaction can be explained by an example of a computer:
Physical body can be compared to hardware, subtle/astral body to software false ego (ahankara) to interface, prana to electricity, soul (jiva/atma) to user and Paramatma to system operator controlling a network of many computers, or bodies (Bhagavad gita 13.3). Functionality of this system in interaction with the material world is defined by the condition of bodies (age, health, abilities, etc.). When one gross body is completely out of use, jiva has to leave it and Paramatma assigns her another one according to her needs, desires and merits (reincarnation).

- compared to a seed planted into the womb of internal energy, with the help of sravanam kirtanam it grows and develops spiritual body and mind

- 5 kosas (sheats, coverings, parts of subtle body) (Taittiriya Upanisad 2.1-5, BG 13.5p., SB 6.15.12-15p.):

annamaya - mind oriented on food
pranamaya - on bodily effort
manomaya - on mental activities
vijnanamaya - on intellectual discrimination
anandamaya - impersonal spiritual happiness (vimukta-manina)

Suhotra Prabhu:

Causal body (karana-deha) is a subtle body (linga-sarira) purified by mystic yoga (one can reach the edge of Causal ocean/Karana-jala in it). Preliminary anandamaya is perceived by Brahma and after being transcended, real anandamaya (KC) develops in svarupa, or siddha-deha (spiritual body and mind.) Gross body (sthula-sarira) is nourished by annnamaya consciousness (anna - grains) which predominates in Bhur-loka. Living entities in pranamaya, manomaya and vijnanamaya are civilized humans on Bhur-loka, Bhuvar-loka (mainly water and liquid elements; e.g. moon - cooling and nectar producing effects), Svarga-, Mahar-loka (mainly fiery elements). On Jana-, Tapo-loka (airy elements) and Satya-loka (ethereal elements) live great mystics with asta-siddhi who transcended linga-sarira and have karana-deha. In this body does not exist gross and subtle enjoyment but still there is false ego - they are attached to their positions in the universe. Between material and spiritual mind is no connection (not that lustful mind means madhurya rasa svarupa). While material consciousness predominates, spiritual mind sleeps, everything is like a dream (SB 4.29.2b).

- bhakti inherent to jiva though awakened by guru:

CC Madhya 19.151:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

brahmanda bhramite - wandering in this universe; kona - some; bhagyavan - most fortunate; jiva - living being; guru - of the spiritual master; krsna - of Krsna; prasade - by the mercy; paya - gets; bhakti-lata - of the creeper of devotional service; bija - the seed.

According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krsna. By the mercy of both Krsna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.

CC Madhya 20.117:

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

krsna bhuli' - forgetting Krsna; sei jiva - that living entity; anadi - from time immemorial; bahir-mukha - attracted by the external feature; ataeva - therefore; maya - illusory energy; tare - to him; deya - gives; samsara-duhkha - miseries of material existence.

Forgetting Krsna, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy (maya) gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence.

CC Madhya 22.107:

nitya-siddha krsna-prema 'sadhya' kabhu naya
sravanadi-suddha-citte karaye udaya

nitya-siddha - eternally established; krsna-prema - love of Krsna; sadhya - to be gained; kabhu - at any time; naya - not; sravana-adi - by hearing, etc.; suddha - purified; citte - in the heart; karaye udaya - awakens.

Pure love for Krsna is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.

(CC Antya 3.78-86:) Caitanya M. liberated all living entities and enabled the manifestation of the unmanifested (suksma) living entities (present inhabitants of this universe) who were merged in material elements, inactive, fully unconscious and out of samsara. Interplanetary space is constituted mainly of ether (akasa) and is full of suksma-jivas.
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:40pm

Karma.

Devotees: changed by Krsna - "Krsna-karma": (SB 2.7.42, 3.28.38, 10.87.40, CC Antya 6.193p., Brhad-bhagavatamrta 2.4.85-86) Vedanta-sutra 4.1.15: only anarabdha-karma burned by vidya. According to Baladeva Vidyabhusana's commentary to Vedanta-sutra 3.4.16, at diksa the HK mahamantra burns all karma (BG 4.37 - sarva karmani) but the gross body - being the prarabdha karma - Krsna preserves for preaching. Spiritual body is attained immediately after initiation (740817SB.VRN)

- devotees vs. nondevotees: (SB 8.9.28) "The place, the time, the cause, the purpose, the activity and the ambition were all the same for both the demigods and the demons, but the demigods achieved one result and the demons another. Because the demigods are always under the shelter of the dust of the Lord's lotus feet, they could very easily drink the nectar and get its result. The demons, however, not having sought shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord, were unable to achieve the result they desired."

- disciple's taken by guru: (Hari-bhakti-vilasa 1.77)

rajni camatyaja dosah
patni-papam sva-bhartari
tatha sisyarjitam papam
guruh prapnoti niscitam

"Just as a king accepts the faults of his minister and a husband the sins of his wife, similarly a spiritual master receives the sins of his disciples."

- Earth, created only on: (Visnu Purana 2.3.2)

karmabhumir iyam svargam apavargam ca gacchatam

- vs. free will: Lord is so great that He knows what our future decisions will be and incorporates them into His plan. So when we act sinfully we have to get reactions because we misused our free will - not that He forced us.

- hereditary: Manu 4.173

- in Kali-yuga not for sins in mind: SB 1.18.7

- references: BG 2.51-52, 4.11-24, 6.41-47, 8.3, 14.18; SB 1.13.46, 4.11.20, 4.24.43, 5.5.5, 5.11.6, 6.1.4,45, 10.13.53, 10.14.8... without end

- transfer: according to Garuda Purana 1.115.6 any personal contact involves transfer of karma to some degree. Therefore the rules of social contact are very prominent in the Vedic culture. "Sin (karma) spreads from a man to man slowly by conversation, mutual touch, frequent association, taking food together, sitting together, lying together and traveling together."

- transfer through food:

Jayapataka Swami:

Srila Prabhupada taught us in India that different types of foodstuff transferred different degrees of karma from the donor to the consumer. This is for food given in charity by someone to a devotee.

From least dangerous to most dangerous the list is: water, whole uncut fruit, cut fruit, fried food (in ghee presumably, pakka), boiled grains like rice (katcha).

If you buy food then you don't get the seller's karma, only the karma of whatever the food might contain. You do get the cook's vibration and mentality if it is cooked food.

Harikesa Swami:

Non-cooked foods can be accepted from anyone at any time, if they are pure (not animal product and so on.)

If uninitiated devotee were to cook something and offer it properly it could be accepted by initiated devotees if he were to invite them to his house. After all, we used to go to people's houses in India with Srila Prabhupada and accept their offerings. However, this is not the best thing for initiated devotees. The best thing is to only accept foods cooked in the temple by initiated devotees and offered to the Deities. But if one is traveling and preaching and does a program in someone's house then it is natural to accept something from them if they are on the same standard as a regular devotee, namely chanting and following the four regulative principles.

I do remember from India getting extremely sick from eating outside and Prabhupada confirmed that it came from eating and therefore I have warned all my disciples that it is not good to eat outside, even in India, although for preaching we might make exceptions, but still there will be reactions. People like to feed sadhus because the sadhus come to their house and eat their sins. Prabhupada was merciful and didn't mind eating other's sins because he wanted to save them, but other devotees, who are not so powerful, will get sick by such eating.

- "vicarious atonement": (Vedanta-sutra 4.1.17, Manu 6.79) in case of special nirapeksas, their good/bad karma is divided to their friends/enemies and they leave the body immediately after attaining Vidya
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:37pm

Four cosmic ages (yugas)

When explaining the various measurements of time, Vishnu Purana (1.3), Srimad Bhagavatam (3.11.18-39), Bhagavad-gita (8.17), Vayu Purana (chapter 57) and others, such as the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, 231.12-20), all agree on the measurements of the durations of the yugas, as explained below.

One cycle of the four yugas together is 12,000 years of the devas called divine years. Each of these years is composed of 360 days, and each of their days is equal to one human year. So Krta-yuga is 4000 divine years in length, Treta-yuga is 3000 divine years in length, Dvapara-yuga is 2000 divine years in length, and Kali-yuga is 1000 divine years long, with the addition of the conjoining portions of the sandhya and sandhyamsa. Each yuga is preceded by a period called a sandhya, which is as many hundred years in length as there are thousands of years in that particular yuga. Each yuga is also followed by a period of time known as a sandhyamsa of the same length. In between these periods of time is the actual yuga.

Krta or Satya-yuga (Golden Age)

Duration - 4,800 demigods years (4000 + 400 sandhya + 400 sandhyamsa)
or 1,728,000 human years
Life span - 100,000 years (Brahma vaivarta Purana 4.90.12, SB 4.12.13: Dhruva Maharaja ruled for 36,000 years)
Yuga-dharma (SB 12.3.52 lists all yuga dharmas) - meditation or astanga yoga
Yuga-avatara - white with four arms, has matted hair and wears a garment of tree bark. He carries a black deerskin, a sacred thread, prayer beads and the rod and waterpot of a brahmacari. (SB 11.5.21)

Symptoms of Satya-yuga: The people are peaceful, non-envious, friendly and naturally Krsna conscious. In Satya-yuga there was no division of asrama, everyone was a paramahamsa. There was no demigod worship, only the worship of Krsna and religion was perfectly practiced. (SB 9.14, 11.5.21-22)

Treta-yuga (Silver Age)

Duration - 3,600 demigod years (3000 + 300 sandhya + 300 sandhyamsa)
or 1,296,000 human years
Life span - 10,000 years (SB 5.17.12)
Yuga-dharma - Fire sacrifice (yajna)
Yuga-avatara - red with four arms and golden hair. He wears a triple belt representing initiation into the three Vedas. His symbols are the sruk, sruva, etc. (ladle, spoon and other implements of sacrifice).

Symptoms of Treta-yuga: In Treta-yuga the people are thoroughly religious. In Satya-yuga people are naturally Krsna conscious. In Treta-yuga they are inclined to become Krsna conscious. To achieve that end they are very strict in following Vedic principles.

Dvapara-yuga (Copper Age)

Duration - 2,400 demigod years (2000 + 200 sandhya + 200 sandhyamsa)
or 864,000 human years
Life span - 1,000 years
Yuga-dharma - Temple worship (arcana)
Yuga-avatara - his complexion is dark blue. He wears yellow garments. His body is marked with Srivatsa and other distinctive ornaments, and He manifests His personal weapons.

The original Personality of Godhead from whom all other incarnations expand is Sri Krsna. He appears once in a day of Brahma, during the period of the seventh Manu (Vaivasvata) in the 28th divya-yuga. The original Personality of Godhead Krsna only comes once in a day of Brahma. Although in every Dvapara-yuga there is a yuga-avatara, they are all expansions of Visnu, who is an expansion of Sri Krsna.

Symptoms of Dvapara-yuga: In Dvapara-yuga people have the weaknesses of mortal beings, but they have a strong desire to know about the Absolute Truth and they worship the Lord in the mood of honoring a great king, following the prescriptions of both Vedas and tantras.

Kali-yuga

Duration - 1,200 demigod years (1000 + 100 sandhya + 100 sandhyamsa)
or 432,000 human years
Life span - 100 years (or 50, SB 12.2.11)
Yuga-dharma - Chanting the Hare Krsna mahamantra (harinama sankirtana)
Yuga-avatara - golden or yellow but generally black. Lord Caitanya, who is Krsna Himself, appears only in the Kali-yuga immediately following the appearance of Sri Krsna in Dvapara-yuga.

Symptoms of Kali-yuga: "O learned one in the age of Kali, men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and above all, always disturbed." (SB 1.1.10)

The four yugas are known as a divya-yuga, or maha-yuga. One divya-yuga is 12,000 years of the demigods (4,320,000 human years). One thousand divya-yugas equals one day of Brahma (4,320,000,000 human years).

In each Brahma's day there are fourteen Manus (patriarchs of mankind). Each Manu enjoys a life of seventy-one divya-yugas or 852,000 years of the demigods (306,720,000 human years). After the dissolution of every Manu a new Manu comes. With the change of Manu the universal management also changes. Each manvantara is preceded and followed by the yuga-sandhya in length of one Satya-yuga. The yuga-sandhyas are periods of partial devastation and creation.

Brahma's life consists of 36,000 days and nights (of the same length), or 311,040,000,000,000 human years.

We live in Kali-yuga of the 28th divya-yuga of the 7th Manu of the 12th kalpa (called Sveta-Varaha) (SB 2.10.46p., Skanda P. 2.39-42), in the 51th year of Brahma. The beginning of this kalpa was 2.3 billion years ago (453 mahayugas back).

padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:34pm

Calculation of time (SB 3.11.1-12)

The atomic description of the Srimad Bhagavatam is almost the same as that of modern science. This is further described in the Paramanu-vada of Kanada. Time is measured in terms of its covering a certain space of atoms. Standard time is calculated in terms of the movement of the sun. The time covered by the sun in passing over an atom is calculated as atomic time.

Two atoms
Three double atoms
Three hexatoms

One hundred trutis
Three vedas
Three lavas
Three nimesas
Five ksanas
Fifteen kasthas
Fifteen laghus
Two dandas
Six to seven dandas
Fifteen days and nights
Two fortnights

- a double atom
- a hexatom (a particle visible in sunshine)
- a truti or 18 atomic particles, or one second
divided in 16,875 parts.
- one veda
- one lava
- one nimesa
- one ksana
- one kastha or 8 seconds
- one laghu or 2 minutes
- one (nadika-danda) or 30 minutes
- one muhurta or one hour
- one prahara or quarter of a day
- two weeks or a fortnight
- one month

During the period of one month the moon wanes and is called krsna-paksa, the dark moon or amavasya. In the same month the moon waxes and is called gaura-paksa or sukla-paksa, the full moon or purnima. Thus purnima to amavasya is called krsna-paksa (dark moon) and amavasya to purnima is called sukla-paksa (bright moon). Two months equal one season. During the first six months the sun travels from south to north (uttarayana). During the second six months the sun travels from north to south (daksinayana). Two solar movements equal one day and night of the demigods.

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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:33pm

1) Kala (time) is a special manifestation of Krsna's energy.

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people..." (BG 11.32)

"My Lord, I consider Your Lordship to be eternal time, the supreme controller, without beginning and end, the all-pervasive one. In distributing Your mercy, You are equal to everyone. The dissensions between living beings are due to social intercourse." (SB 1.8.28)

"The time factor, who causes the transformation of the various material manifestations, is another feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyone who does not know that time is the same Supreme Personality is afraid of the time factor." (SB 3.29.37)

"Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the enjoyer of all sacrifices, is the time factor and the master of all masters. He enters everyone's heart, He is the support of everyone, and He causes every being to be annihilated by another." (SB 3.29.38)

2) Kala, the time factor, causes material creation.

"The Supreme Living Being in His feature as the transcendental purusa incarnation, who is the Lord's plenary expansion, impregnates the material nature of three modes, and thus by the influence of eternal time the living entities appear." (SB 3.5.26)

"Thereafter, influenced by the interactions of eternal time, the supreme sum total of matter called the mahat-tattva became manifested, and in this mahat-tattva the unalloyed goodness, the Supreme Lord, sowed the seeds of universal manifestation out of His own body." (SB 3.5.27)

Time is described as Lord's glance (personified as Siva) on the material nature initiating the creation process. (BG 14.3-4, SB 3.5.26-27, Brahma-samhita 5.10) Siva's paraphernalia symbolize: moon - time measurement in months, three eyes - tri-kala-jna, snake around the neck - time measurement in years, necklace of skulls with snakes - changing of ages and begetting and annihilating of mankind.

"Maitreya said: Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. It is unchangeable and limitless, and it works as the instrument of the Supreme Personality of Godhead for His pastimes in the material creation." (SB 3.10.11)

PURPORT

The impersonal time factor is the background of the material manifestation as the instrument of the Supreme Lord. It is the ingredient of assistance offered to material nature. No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material manifestation. This time factor is the material cause of creation and is therefore a self expansion of the Personality of Godhead. Time is considered the impersonal feature of the Lord. ...Metaphysically, time is distinguished as absolute and real. Absolute time is continuous and is unaffected by the speed or slowness of material things. Time is astronomically and mathematically calculated in relation to the speed, change and life of a particular object. Factually, however, time has nothing to do with the relativities of things; rather, everything is shaped and calculated in terms of the facility offered by time. Time is the basic measurement of the activity of our senses, by which we calculate past, present and future; but in factual calculation, time has no beginning and no end. Canakya Pandita says that even a slight fraction of time cannot be purchased with millions of dollars, and therefore even a moment of time lost without profit must be calculated as the greatest loss in life. Time is not subject to any form of psychology, nor are the moments objective realities in themselves, but they are dependent on particular experiences. Therefore, Srila Jiva Gosvami concludes that the time factor is intermixed with the activities - actions and reactions - of the external energy of the Lord. The external energy, or material nature, works under the superintendence of the time factor as the Lord Himself, and that is why material nature appears to have produced so many wonderful things in the cosmic manifestation. Bhagavad-gita (9.10) confirms this conclusion as follows: 'This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.'

"This cosmic manifestation is separated from the Supreme Lord as material energy by means of kala, which is the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Lord. It is situated as the objective manifestation of the Lord under the influence of the same material energy of Visnu." (SB 3.10.12)

Verses 11 and 12 give us a much deeper understanding of the influence of time on the material creation. We see in verse 12 that it is time itself which is the factor that causes the material energy to be 'material' by virtue of separating this energy from the Lord.

From the Lord's perspective it is all one energy, His spiritual energy, but from our perspective His energy appears to differentiate into spiritual and material. For example the electricity can be used to create heat in an oven or to make ice in the freezer. It depends on how it is used. It can thus be understood from this verse that it is time, one of Krsna's energies, which actually causes the transformation of the spiritual energy into material energy and separates it from Krsna.

It is by virtue of being separated from Krsna that distinguishes the material from the spiritual energy. When the energy is separated from Krsna it becomes Maya. Maya, by definition, means not Krsna. The Maya energy, i.e. the material energy is not Krsna because it is not related to Krsna but separated from Him. The jiva, the living being, is not material but spiritual and is superior to matter, and is always related to Krsna.

"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego - all together these eight constitute My separated material energies. "Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature." (BG 7.4-5)

"The eternal time factor has no beginning and no end. It is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the maker of the criminal world. It brings about the end of the phenomenal world, it carries on the work of creation by bringing one individual into existence from another, and likewise it dissolves the universe by destroying even the lord of death, Yamaraja." (SB 3.29.45)

PURPORT

By the influence of eternal time, which is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the father begets a son, and the father dies by the influence of cruel death. But by time's influence, even the lord of cruel death is killed. In other words, all the demigods within the material world are temporary, like ourselves. Our lives last for one hundred years at the most, and similarly, although their lives may last for millions and billions of years, the demigods are not eternal. No one can live within this material world eternally. The phenomenal world is created, maintained and destroyed by the finger signal of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore a devotee does not desire anything in this material world. A devotee desires only to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This servitude exists eternally; the Lord exists eternally, His servitor exists eternally, and the service exists eternally.

The quality of stirring up the material elements and getting the material creation going is explained in the following verses:

"All these are considered the qualified Brahman. The mixing element, which is known as time, is counted as the twenty-fifth element." (SB 3.26.15)

"The influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is felt in the time factor, which causes fear of death due to the false ego of the deluded soul who has contacted material nature." (SB 3.26.16)

"My dear mother, O daughter of Svayambhuva Manu, the time factor, as I have explained, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom the creation begins as a result of the agitation of the neutral, unmanifested nature." (SB 3.26.17)

"By exhibiting His potencies, the Supreme Personality of Godhead adjusts all these different elements, keeping Himself within as the Supersoul and without as time." (SB 3.26.18)

3) Time has very serious effects on the living beings.

It is time, the impersonal aspect of Sri Krsna, which activates the material elements and captures the spiritual spark in a tangle of activities and karma. For we speak of karma as past-karma, present-karma and future-karma. And it is the living being who is subject to karma and thus to time. This doesn't mean that time and karma are synonymous. As stated in the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita - time and karma are two of the five topics of the Gita, along with God, the individual soul, and material energy. Of these five subjects four are eternal but karma is not eternal. So there is distinction between karma and time. But they do interact.

"Whoever is under the influence of supreme kala [eternal time] must surrender his most dear life, and what to speak of other things, such as wealth, honor, children, land and home." (SB 1.13.20)

"This gross material body made of five elements is already under the control of eternal time [kala], action [karma] and the modes of material nature [guna]. How, then, can it, being already in the jaws of the serpent, protect others?" (SB 1.13.46)

"The Personality of Godhead said: As a mass of clouds does not know the powerful influence of the wind, a person engaged in material consciousness does not know the powerful strength of the time factor, by which he is being carried." (SB 3.30.1)

"Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments." (SB 3.30.2)

PURPORT

The main function of the time factor, which is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to destroy everything. The materialists, in material consciousness, are engaged in producing so many things in the name of economic development. They think that by advancing in satisfying the material needs of man they will be happy, but they forget that everything they have produced will be destroyed in due course of time. From history we can see that there were many powerful empires on the surface of the globe that were constructed with great pain and great perseverance, but in due course of time they have all been destroyed. Still the foolish materialists cannot understand that they are simply wasting time in producing material necessities, which are destined to be vanquished in due course of time. This waste of energy is due to the ignorance of the mass of people, who do not know that they are eternal and that they have an eternal engagement also. They do not know that this span of life in a particular type of body is but a flash in the eternal journey. Not knowing this fact, they take the small flash of life to be everything, and they waste time in improving economic conditions.

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable supreme energy, time, causes the interaction of the three modes of material nature, and thus varieties of energy become manifest. It appears that He is acting, but He is not the actor. He is killing, but He is not the killer. Thus it is understood that only by His inconceivable power is everything happening." (SB 4.11.18)

"My dear Dhruva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ever existing, but in the form of time, He is the killer of everything. He has no beginning, although He is the beginning of everything, nor is He ever exhaustible, although everything is exhausted in due course of time. The living entities are created through the agency of the father and killed through the agency of death, but He is perpetually free of birth and death." (SB 4.11.19)

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His feature of eternal time, is present in the material world and is neutral towards everyone. No one is His ally, and no one is His enemy. Within the jurisdiction of the time element, everyone enjoys or suffers the result of his own karma, or fruitive activities. As, when the wind blows, small particles of dust fly in the air, so, according to one's particular karma, one suffers or enjoys material life." (SB 4.11.20)

"My dear Lord, Your absolute authority cannot be directly experienced, but one can guess by seeing the activities of the world that everything is being destroyed in due course of time. The force of time is very strong, and everything is being destroyed by something else - just as one animal is being eaten by another animal. Time scatters everything, exactly as the wind scatters clouds in the sky." (SB 4.24.65)

"Since the material body is sure to be vanquished and the duration of one's life is not fixed, neither death nor life is to be praised. Rather, one should observe the eternal time factor, in which the living entity manifests himself and disappears." (SB 7.13.6)

"No one can surpass the time representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by material power, by the counsel of ministers, by intelligence, by diplomacy, by fortresses, by mystic mantras, by drugs, by herbs or by any other means." (SB 8.21.22)

4) The spiritual world is free of time's destructive influence.

"In that personal abode of the Lord, the material modes of ignorance and passion do not prevail, nor is there any of their influence in goodness. There is no predominance of the influence of time, so what to speak of the illusory, external energy; it cannot enter that region. Without discrimination, both the demigods and the demons worship the Lord as devotees." (SB 2.9.10)

The affairs of the material world look unreal from the vantage point of the spiritual world: "All that happens in time - past, present and future - is a dream. This is the secret understanding of all Vedic literatures." (SB 4.29.2b)
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:32pm

Krsna's energy

From examining the scriptures we can make few basic conclusions:

1) The identity of Krsna with time, or more properly that time is one of Krsna's energies.

2) Krsna as the time factor causes the material creation.

3) Time has very serious effects on the living beings.

4) The spiritual world is free of time's destructive influence.
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padmavati mataji February 27, 2011 at 2:31pm

The Experience of King Kakudmi

The following example from the Bhagavata Purana, illustrates time dilation on Brahmaloka, the planet of Lord Brahma, the demiurge of this universe. This historical incident begins with the mention of a submarine kingdom called Kusasthali. The residents of this kingdom were descendants of the solar dynasty. And though they are considered human, they were endowed with mystic powers, not found in ordinary humans today. The King of Kusasthali, Kakudmi, was able to travel to the world of Brahma and experience Brahma's perception of time:

"O Maharaja Pariksit, subduer of enemies, Revata constructed a kingdom known as Kusasthali in the depths of the ocean. There he lived and ruled such tracts of land as Anarta, etc. He had one hundred very nice sons, of whom the eldest was Kakudmi. Taking his own daughter, Revati, Kakudmi went to Lord Brahma in Brahmaloka, which is transcendental to the three modes of material nature, and inquired about a husband for her. When Kakudmi arrived there, Lord Brahma was engaged in hearing musical performances by the Gandharvas and had not a moment to talk to him. Therefore Kakudmi waited, and at the end of the musical performances he offered his obeisances to Lord Brahma and thus submitted his long standing desire. After hearing his words, Lord Brahma, who is most powerful, laughed loudly and said to Kakudmi, 'O King, all those whom you may have decided within the core of your heart to accept as your son-in-law have passed away in the course of time. Twenty-seven catur-yugas have already passed. Those upon whom you may have already decided are now gone, and so are their sons, grandsons and other descendants. You cannot even hear about their names.' (SB 9.3.28-32)

According to Vedic calculations a catur-yuga is equal to 4,320,000 earth years. Thus twenty-seven such cycles would be equal to 116,640,000. From our previous statement that one second of Brahma was equal to 100,000 earth years we find that Kakudmi had only been waiting for 19 minutes and 26 seconds while Lord Brahma finished listening to the musical performance of the Gandharvas. (We shall discuss the Vedic divisions of time in a later section.)

Contemplating these strange effects of time plus the fact that day by day we get older and eventually will die at the hands of time we begin to appreciate why time has engrossed the minds of philosophers for so long.

As we shall soon see the calculation of time is ultimately based on the astronomical motion of the Sun, Moon and other planets. Just think, it would be difficult to be even aware of the passage of time if it were not for the successive rising and setting of the sun which demarks the night and day of our experience. The daily solar cycle controls when we rise, go to sleep, eat, work, mate, etc.

Studies have been done on subjects who have been isolated from the sun and other atmospheric cycles by being placed deep underground in caves such as the Carlsbad Caverns. These experimental subjects were given no clocks and put on no schedules. There was no routine time of contact. All efforts were made to obliterate any sense of time and cycle caused by the sun or anything else. The subjects contacted the surface with telephones and gave information as to when they would get up, eat, go to sleep, etc. It was found that gradually the sleep-wake cycle in that particular case would dramatically change to being on a 48 hour cycle rather than a 24 hour cycle. This went on for months with major variations in the wake-sleep cycle. This clearly shows how we are closely governed in our normal experience by the rising and setting of the sun. The sun not only gives us our daily cycle but also our seasonal changes leading to the yearly cycle.

Between the day and the year the cycle of the Moon is prominent. Indeed the etymological origin of the words: mensuration (to measure), menstruation (women's period), and month; are all derived from the Moon. The waxing and waning phases of the Moon give us each a two week period. Which divided in two give us a week of seven days.

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Krishna Consciousness.

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