Q. 202. HOW CAN ONE BE ELEVATED TO THE POSITION OF SELF-REALIZATION ?
A. BY SRILA PRABHUPADA.
buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto
dhṛtyātmānaḿ niyamya ca
śabdādīn viṣayāḿs tyaktvā
rāga-dveṣau vyudasya ca
vivikta-sevī laghv-āśī
yata-vāk-kāya-mānasaḥ
dhyāna-yoga-paro nityaḿ
vairāgyaḿ samupāśritaḥ
ahańkāraḿ balaḿ darpaḿ
kāmaḿ krodhaḿ parigraham
vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
SYNONYMS
buddhyā — with the intelligence; viśuddhayā — fully purified; yuktaḥ — engaged; dhṛtyā — by determination; ātmānam — the self; niyamya — regulating; ca— also; śabda-ādīn — such as sound; viṣayān — the sense objects; tyaktvā — giving up; rāga — attachment; dveṣau — and hatred; vyudasya — laying aside;ca — also; vivikta-sevī — living in a secluded place; laghu-āśī — eating a small quantity; yata — having controlled; vāk — speech; kāya — body; mānasaḥ — and mind; dhyāna-yoga-paraḥ — absorbed in trance; nityam — twenty-four hours a day; vairāgyam — detachment; samupāśritaḥ — having taken shelter of;ahańkāram — false ego; balam — false strength; darpam — false pride; kāmam — lust; krodham — anger; parigraham — and acceptance of material things;vimucya — being delivered from; nirmamaḥ — without a sense of proprietorship; śāntaḥ — peaceful; brahma-bhūyāya — for self-realization; kalpate — is qualified.
TRANSLATION
Being purified by his intelligence and controlling the mind with determination, giving up the objects of sense gratification, being freed from attachment and hatred, one who lives in a secluded place, who eats little, who controls his body, mind and power of speech, who is always in trance and who is detached, free from false ego, false strength, false pride, lust, anger, and acceptance of material things, free from false proprietorship, and peaceful — such a person is certainly elevated to the position of self-realization. (Bhagavad-Gita As It Is).
PURPORT
When one is purified by intelligence, he keeps himself in the mode of goodness. Thus one becomes the controller of the mind and is always in trance. He is not attached to the objects of sense gratification, and he is free from attachment and hatred in his activities. Such a detached person naturally prefers to live in a secluded place, he does not eat more than what he requires, and he controls the activities of his body and mind.
He has no false ego because he does not accept the body as himself. Nor has he a desire to make the body fat and strong by accepting so many material things. Because he has no bodily concept of life, he is not falsely proud.
He is satisfied with everything that is offered to him by the grace of the Lord, and he is never angry in the absence of sense gratification. Nor does he endeavour to acquire sense objects. Thus when he is completely free from false ego, he becomes non-attached to all material things, and that is the stage of self-realization of Brahman. That stage is called the brahma-bhūta stage.
When one is free from the material conception of life, he becomes peaceful and cannot be agitated. This is described in Bhagavad-gītā (2.70):
āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaḿ
samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaḿ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī
SYNONYMS
āpūryamāṇam — always being filled; acala-pratiṣṭham — steadily situated; samudram — the ocean; āpaḥ — waters; praviśanti — enter; yadvat — as; tadvat —so; kāmāḥ — desires; yam — unto whom; praviśanti — enter; sarve — all; saḥ — that person; śāntim — peace; āpnoti — achieves; na — not; kāma-kāmī — one who desires to fulfill desires.
TRANSLATION
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires — that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still — can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires. (Bhagavad-Gita As It Is).
PURPORT
Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always, especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more water. But the ocean remains the same — steady; it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
As long as one has the material body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue. The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires, because of his fullness. A Kṛṣṇa conscious man is not in need of anything, because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. Therefore he is like the ocean — always full in himself.
Desires may come to him like the waters of the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense gratification. That is the proof of a Kṛṣṇa conscious man — one who has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace.
Others, however, who want to fulfill desires even up to the limit of liberation, what to speak of material success, never attain peace. The fruitive workers, the salvationists, and also the yogīs who are after mystic powers are all unhappy because of unfulfilled desires.
But the person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is happy in the service of the Lord, and he has no desires to be fulfilled. In fact, he does not even desire liberation from the so-called material bondage. The devotees of Kṛṣṇa have no material desires, and therefore they are in perfect peace.
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