The Supreme Absolute Truth

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

In the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, we find that the demigods offer selected wonderful prayers to please Lord Krishna in the womb of Devaki mata. The following is the first of those prayers (SB 10.2.26) and it is a very beautiful prayer to recite and remember.

satya-vratam satya-param tri-satyam
satyasya yonim nihitam ca satye
satyasya satyam rta-satya-netram
satyaatmakam tvaam saranam prapannaah
The demigods prayed: O Lord, You never deviate from Your vow, which is always perfect because whatever You decide is perfectly correct and cannot be stopped by anyone. Being present in the three phases of cosmic manifestation— creation, maintenance and annihilation— You are the Supreme Truth. Indeed, unless one is completely truthful, one cannot achieve Your favor, which therefore cannot be achieved by hypocrites. You are the active principle, the real truth, in all the ingredients of creation, and therefore you are known as antaryaami, the inner force. You are equal to everyone, and Your instructions apply for everyone, for all time. You are the beginning of all truth. Therefore, offering our obeisances, we surrender unto You. Kindly give us protection.

Our beloved Guru Maharaja gave a wonderful class on each of the eight qualities of the Lord in the above verse and if we simply remember and abide by these instructions our perfection in life is guaranteed.

1. Satya-vratam –The Personality of Godhead who never deviates from His vow.

As stated in the Bhagavad gita, Krishna descends upon this material world just to protect the pious and destroy the impious. That is His vow. The demigods could understand that the Lord had taken His residence within the womb of Devaki to fulfill this vow. Thus the Lord never deviates from His vow but we always deviate. We proudly call ourselves shaastris- "we know the scriptures". So if somebody asks us why we did not keep up our vows then we say, ‘O! Prabhu! It is all Kali yuga. So it is very difficult to be strict with our vows.’ Thus we blame Kaliyuga for our deviations and that is our foolishness. We take Kali yuga’s help to remain lazy. Krishna’s instruction is that whatever vow we take, we should try to be very serious about it.http://www.mayapuracademy.org/courses

2. Satya param - He is the Absolute Truth.

Absolute Truth means that except Him, there is nothing. Krishna says to Arjuna in Srimad Bhagavad gita 7.7

mattah parataram naanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-ganaa iva
‘O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.’

Thus everything is Him. So however some living entity may trouble us, it is Krishna. Some may praise us - it is Krishna. Some may help us - it is Krishna. Some may try to destroy us - it is Krishna. So this way, we escape all the enmity. Seeing Krishna, we don’t have any enemies. Ajaata-satru. That attitude must be cultivated, if you want to progress spiritually. Otherwise your valuable time is diverted to the material enmities and then there is blaming and counter blaming. All our valuable time is wasted. We should try to save our time. This Absolute nature of the truth helps us to save our time. Whether we believe it or not, He is in control and without Him, nothing happens. That is the meaning of Satya param.

3. Tri satyam - He is always present as the Absolute Truth, before the creation of this cosmic manifestation, during its maintenance, and even after its annihilation.
In the seed verses of Srimad Bhagavatam the Lord declares in 2.9.33

aham evaasam evaagre
naanyad yat sad-asat param
pascaad aham yad etac ca
yo 'vasisyeta so 'smy aham
Brahma, it is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead, and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead.

4.Satyasya yonim – The cause of all relative truths, which are emanations from the Supreme Lord Krishna.

‘Yoni’ means the source. Whatever truths we see, the source is Him. The cupboard is here. It is ‘satya’ or’truth’ for us. But yoni is Him. How? We are alive and we have soul and Supersoul in our heart. Till that time, I see the cupboard. Cupboard is also intact. It is not dismantled. It has the three main ingredients earth, water and fire which are Krishna’s energy and Krishna is holding it. As soon as Krishna decides to leave, the cupboard will be converted into iron ore etc, then mix into the land, and eventually land will go back to Krishna in the subtle stage. This is the yonim.

Because Krishna is there, then only we are seeing this cupboard. As soon as He leaves our body or decides to leave the planet, the whole planet will be dismantled immediately. This is satyasya yonim. Anything you feel as truth is because of Him. Without Him everything is null and void. And we don’t digest this idea. We are thinking ‘I am doing. I am doing.’ We put ‘I’ between Him and us. That is why He is far away. As soon as you give Him credit, He is near you. Then everything is alright. Because He is the yonim, the source of everything.

5.Nihitam ca satye - Entered in the factors that create this material world (namely, the five elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether).

The Lord enters everything, even the atom: andaantara-stha-paramaanu-cayaantara-stham (Brahma-samhita 5.35). Therefore He is called antaryaami, the inner force. Regarding the five elements, one thing we should always remember that they are all part of the 12 witnesses who see every activity of the living entities. In Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.42 it is stated

suryo 'gnih kham marud devah
somah sandhyaahani disah
kam kuh svayam dharma iti
hy ete daihyasya saaksinah
The sun, fire, sky, air, demigods, moon, evening, day, night, directions, water, land and Supersoul Himself all witness the activities of the living entity.

We find that all the five great elements are included in the above. They are very sincere and they are always watching us. Water is situated in our body and water is watching us. Agni is situated in our body and is watching. Bhumi is already there. Nothing He misses. That is why immediately He knows. As soon as we think anything, He knows. That is why the devotee’s thinking process is also purified because of Him. Ordinary people they think bad and the whole existence becomes miserable. Bad means always misery. Good means always satisfying. Sattvam visuddhau - purified goodness is all Him.

6. Satyasya Satyam - The Lord is the original truth of all that is accepted as the truth.

So many truths are there but the Lord is the original one. Many people follow only morality and say that good behaviour is alright. They say that I am living good and nobody troubles me and I am not troubling anyone. There is no Bhagavan.

But these people fail to understand that the ‘yoni’ or source is Him. Whatever satya or truth they speak, He is the reason and they do not know that. People are completely ignorant of this. We think that our legs walk. Frankly spoken, our eyes and the light (prakash) help us to walk. In pitch dark, it is very difficult to walk. Eyes are not working and there is no light. Particularly when your legs are weak, you cannot walk in darkness. Always it is Him in the background and we do not see. It is true but we never see that the light helps us to walk. Never.

Regarding the movement of the body, any movement is because of the air in the body. I can see, I can talk, I can walk and it is all because of air. The root is air. For all the pains and aches, air is the reason. So He orders the air in the body, ‘let this man have ache’. So that is why it is insisted in the Sastras that bodily pains must be regarded as the mercy of Krishna. So tolerate it. He is sending it. Don’t unnecessarily worry about it. The root is all within the five elements. In that also, air is very important. Without air, we can’t survive. Any small movement you do, it is the air. Hence regulation of air is a must in our body. This regulation always goes wrong because of our sinful activities. That is why it is very much insisted in Bhagavad gita 7.28

yesaam tv anta-gatam paapam
janaanaam punya-karmanaam
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktaa
bhajante maam drdha-vrataah
"Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination."

The thing is that the sinful ideas must also vanish. As soon as we think about sin, the air in the body becomes unregulated. The first thing the sin is affecting is our digestion. That we don’t know. That is why good behaviour is a must for our healthy body. Any anti Srimad Bhagavatam activity, affects our bodily health and then existence. Then we become angry and kill indiscriminately. In America, there are so many shoot outs and it is all air and sinful ideas. We are all suffering from sinful thinking. The Vedic culture acts on the thinking process. It is said, ‘sa

vai manah krishna padaaravindayoh’.

Unless we qualify ourselves in the above way, we cannot understand Krishna lila. The sinful attitude must disappear from our lives. Then only we can understand how the five great elements work under His control. Why somebody has a stroke and within a second, half the body is completely gone. Who does that? The air in that part is gone and the movement stops and it becomes very heavy. Just to move it, requires great endeavour. Try to avoid the pitfalls and you will be alright.

Real intelligence is to be dedicated to understanding these things. Srila Prabhupada insisted that our temples should be spiritual embassies disseminating this knowledge.

7. Rta satya netram – He is the origin of whatever truth is pleasing.

Anything regarding Him is truth and He is all pleasing.

8. Satyaatmakam - Everything pertaining to the Lord is truth (sac-cid-aananda: His body is truth, His knowledge is truth, and His pleasure is truth).

Whenever we utter something, four defects are bound to be there in our statements and they are imperfect senses, mistakes, cheating, and illusion. Supposing we call and say that ‘I am coming’ then we have to understand that we cannot go unless we are alive and there is no guarantee that we will be alive and our senses are imperfect and we are completely illusioned. But suppose we add to our sentence ‘Krishna willing I am coming’, then all the four defects vanish immediately just by adding Krishna. As soon as He comes in the form of His name, His name being non different from Him, and a great purifying force, everything becomes truth.

Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.