etavad eva jijnasyam
tattva-jijnasunatmanah
anvaya-vyatirekabhyam
yat syat sarvatra sarvada
etavat -- up to this; eva -- certainly; jijnasyam -- is to be inquired; tattva -- the Absolute Truth; jijnasuna -- by the student; atmanah -- of the Self; anvaya -- directly; vyatirekabhyam -- indirectly; yat -- whatever; syat -- it may be; sarvatra -- in all space and time; sarvada -- in all circumstances.
[part 3 of 3]
It is said in the Skanda Purana:
yasya smrtya ca namoktya
tapo-yajna-kriyadisu
nunam sampurnatam eti
sadyo vande tam acyutam
"I offer my obeisances unto Him, the infallible, because simply by either remembering Him or vibrating His holy name one can attain the perfection of all penances, sacrifices or fruitive activities, and this process can be universally followed." It is enjoined (SB 2.3.10):
akamah sarva-kamo va
moksa-kama udara-dhih
tivrena bhakti-yogena
yajeta purusam param
Though a person be full of desires or have no desires, he may follow this path of infallible bhakti-yoga for complete perfection." One need not be anxious to propitiate each and every demigod and goddess because the root of all of them is the Personality of Godhead. As by pouring water on the root of the tree one serves and enlivens all the branches and leaves, so by rendering service unto the Supreme Lord one automatically serves every god and goddess without extraneous effort. The Lord is all-pervading, and therefore service unto Him is also all-pervading. This fact is corroborated in the Skanda Purana as follows:
arcite deva-devese
sankha-cakra-gada-dhare
arcitah sarva-devah syur
yatah sarva-gato harih
When the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, who carries in His hands a conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower, is worshiped, certainly all other demigods are worshiped automatically because Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is all-pervading. Therefore, in all cases, namely nominative, objective, causative, dative, ablative, possessive and supportive, everyone is benefited by such transcendental loving service to the Lord. The man who worships the Lord, the Lord Himself who is worshiped, the cause for which the Lord is worshiped, the source of supply, the place where such worship is done, etc. -- everything is benefited by such an action.
Even during the annihilation of the material world, the process of bhakti-yoga can be applied. Kalena nasta pralaye vaniyam: the Lord is worshiped in devastation because He protects the Vedas from being annihilated. He is worshiped in every millennium or yuga. As it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.3.52):
krte yad dhyayato visnum
tretayam yajato makhaih
dvapare paricaryayam
kalau tad dhari-kirtanat
In the Visnu Purana it is written:
sa hanis tan mahac chidram
sa mohah sa ca vibhramah
yan-muhurtam ksanam vapi
vasudevam na cintayet
"If even for a moment remembrance of Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is missed, that is the greatest loss, that is the greatest illusion, and that is the greatest anomaly." The Lord can be worshiped in all stages of life. For instance, even in the wombs of their mothers Maharaja Prahlada and Maharaja Pariksit worshiped the Lord; even in his very childhood, at the age of only five years, Dhruva Maharaja worshiped the Lord; even in full youth, Maharaja Ambarisa worshiped the Lord; and even at the last stage of his frustration and old age Maharaja Dhrtarastra worshiped the Lord. Ajamila worshiped the Lord even at the point of death, and Citraketu worshiped the Lord even in heaven and in hell. In the Narasimha Purana it is said that as the hellish inhabitants began to chant the holy name of the Lord they began to be elevated from hell towards heaven. Durvasa Muni has also supported this view: mucyeta yan-namny udite narako 'pi. "Simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord the inhabitants of hell became released from their hellish persecution." So the conclusion of Srimad-Bhagavatam, as given by Sukadeva Gosvami to Maharaja Pariksit, is:
etan nirvidyamananam
icchatam akuto-bhayam
yoginam nrpa nirnitam
harer namanukirtanam
"O King, it is finally decided that everyone, namely those in the renounced order of life, the mystics, and the enjoyers of fruitive work, should chant the holy name of the Lord fearlessly to achieve the desired success in their pursuits." (SB 2.1.11)
Similarly, as indicated indirectly in various places in revealed scriptures:
1. Even though one is well versed in all the Vedas and scriptures, if one is not a devotee of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, he is considered to be the lowest of mankind.
2. In the Garuda Purana, Brhan-naradiya Purana and Padma Purana, the same is repeated: What is the use of Vedic knowledge and penances for one who is devoid of devotional service to the Lord?
3. What is the comparison of thousands of prajapatis to one devotee of the Lord?
4. Sukadeva Gosvami said (SB 2.4.17) that neither the ascetic, nor one who is greatly munificent, nor one who is famous, nor the great philosopher, nor the great occultist, nor anyone else can achieve the desired result without being engaged in the service of the Lord.
5. Even if a place is more glorious than heaven, if there is no glorification of the Lord of Vaikuntha or His pure devotee, it should at once be quitted.
6. The pure devotee refuses to accept all the five different types of liberation in order to be engaged in the service of the Lord.
The final conclusion, therefore, is that the glories of the Lord must be always and everywhere proclaimed. One should hear about His glories, one should chant about His glories, and one should always remember His glories because that is the highest perfectional stage of life. As far as fruitive work is concerned, it is limited to an enjoyable body; as far as yoga is concerned, it is limited to the acquirement of mystic power; as far as empiric philosophy is concerned, it is limited to the attainment of transcendental knowledge; and as far as transcendental knowledge is concerned, it is limited to attainment of salvation. Even if they are adopted, there is every chance of discrepancies in discharging the particular type of functions. But adoption of the transcendental devotional service of the Lord has no limit, nor is there fear of falling down. The process automatically reaches the final stage by the grace of the Lord. In the preliminary stage of devotional service there is an apparent requisite for knowledge, but in the higher stage there is no necessity of such knowledge. The best and guaranteed path of progress is therefore engagement in bhakti-yoga, pure devotional service.
The cream of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the foregoing four slokas is sometimes squeezed out by the impersonalist for different interpretations in their favor, but it should be carefully noted that the four slokas were first described by the Personality of Godhead Himself, and thus the impersonalist has no scope to enter into them because he has no conception of the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, the impersonalist may squeeze out any interpretations from them, but such interpretations will never be accepted by those who are taught in the disciplic succession from Brahma, as will be cleared up in the following verses. Besides that, the sruti confirms that the Supreme Truth Absolute Personality of Godhead never reveals Himself to anyone who is falsely proud of his academic knowledge. The sruti-mantra clearly says (Katha Upanisad 1.2.23):
nayam atma pravacanena labhyo
na medhaya na bahudha srutena
yam evaisa vrnute tena labhyas
tasyaisa atma vivrnute tanum svam
The whole matter is explained by the Lord Himself, and one who has no approach to the Lord in His personal feature can rarely understand the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam without being taught by the bhagavatas in the disciplic succession.
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