20220414 1. One’s Relationship with The Supreme Personality of Godhead, 2. Activities In Terms of That Relationship, And, 3. The Ultimate Goal of Life [To Develop Love of God] Are Three Subjects Explained In Every Aphorism of The Vedānta-Sūtra, Part 1

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 23rd, 2022 in Damadar Desh.

He is the reservoir of ultimate truth and absolute knowledge.

Purport: In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that the Absolute Truth is understood in three phases of realization: the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramātmā and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The impersonal Brahman and localized Paramātmā are expansions of the potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is complete in six opulences, namely wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Since He possesses His six opulences, the Personality of Godhead is the ultimate truth in absolute knowledge.

Jayapatākā Swami: this explains how the Personality of Godhead is the ultimate Parabrahman and in Bhāgavatam it is also confirmed, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate So by taking shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead one achieves all success.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.139

svarūpa-aiśvarye tāṅra nāhi māyā-gandha 
sakala vedera haya bhagavān se ‘sambandha’

Translation: “In His original form the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full with transcendental opulences, which are free from the contamination of the material world. It is to be understood that in all Vedic literature the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate goal.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are thinking the impersonal Brahman is the ultimate goal but Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his original form, and He is the ultimate goal.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.140

tāṅre ‘nirviśeṣa’ kahi, cic-chakti nā māni 
ardha-svarūpa nā mānile pūrṇatā haya hāni

Translation: “When we speak of the Supreme as impersonal, we deny His spiritual potencies. Logically, if you accept half of the truth, you cannot understand the whole.

Purport: In the Upaniṣads it is said:

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate 
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya/ pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

This verse, which is mentioned in the Īśopaniṣad, Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad and many other Upaniṣads, indicates that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full in six opulences. His position is unique, for He possesses all riches, strength, influence, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Brahman means the greatest, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is greater than the greatest, just as the sun globe is greater than the sunshine, which is all-pervading in the universe. Although the sunshine that spreads all over the universes appears very great to the less knowledgeable, greater than the sunshine is the sun itself, and greater than the sun is the sun-god. Similarly, impersonal Brahman is not the greatest, although it appears to be so. Impersonal Brahman is only the bodily effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the transcendental form of the Lord is greater than both the impersonal Brahman and localized Paramātmā. Therefore whenever the word “Brahman” is used in the Vedic literature, it is understood to refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord is also addressed as Parabrahman. Māyāvādīs and others sometimes misunderstand Brahman because every living entity is also Brahman. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is referred to as Parabrahman (the Supreme Brahman). In the Vedic literature, whenever the words “Brahman” or “Parabrahman” are used, they are to be understood to refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. This is their real meaning. Since the entire Vedic literature deals with the subject of Brahman, Kṛṣṇa is therefore the ultimate goal of Vedic understanding. The impersonal brahma-jyoti rests on the personal form of the Lord. Therefore although the impersonal effulgence, the brahma-jyoti, is the first realization, one must enter into it, as mentioned in the Īśopaniṣad, to find the Supreme Person, and then one’s knowledge is perfect. The Bhagavad-gītā (7.19) also confirms this: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. One’s search for the Absolute Truth by dint of speculative knowledge is complete when one comes to the point of understanding Kṛṣṇa and surrenders unto Him. That is the real point of perfectional knowledge.

Partial realization of the Absolute Truth as impersonal Brahman denies the complete opulences of the Lord. This is a hazardous understanding of the Absolute Truth. Unless one accepts all the features of the Absolute Truth — namely impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead — one’s knowledge is imperfect. Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya, in his Vedārtha-saṅgraha, says, jñānena dharmeṇa svarūpam api nirūpitam, na tu jñāna-mātraṁ brahmeti katham idam avagamyate. He thus indicates that the real identity of the Absolute Truth must be understood in terms of both His knowledge and His characteristics. Simply to understand the Absolute Truth to be full of knowledge is not sufficient. In the Vedic literature (Muṇḍaka Up. 1.1.9) we find the statement yaḥ sarva-jñaḥ sarva-vit, which means that the Absolute Truth knows everything perfectly, but we also learn from the Vedic description parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate that not only does He know everything, but He also acts accordingly by utilizing His different energies. Thus, to understand that Brahman, the Supreme, is conscious is not sufficient. One must know how He consciously acts through His different energies. Māyāvāda philosophy simply informs us of the consciousness of the Absolute Truth but does not give us information of how He acts with His consciousness. That is the defect of that philosophy.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrahman acts according to His knowledge and therefore He has full knowledge and acts according to full knowledge. So in this way we can awaken our natural love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead by associating and serving Him.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.141

śravaṇādi sādhana-bhakti upāya vā ‘abhidheya’ :—

bhagavān-prāpti-hetu ye kari upāya 
śravaṇādi bhakti—kṛṣṇa-prāptira sahāya

Translation: “It is only by devotional service, beginning with hearing, that one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the only means to approach Him.

Purport: Māyāvādī philosophers are satisfied simply to understand Brahman to be the sum total of knowledge, but Vaiṣṇava philosophers not only know in detail about the Supreme Personality of Godhead but also know how to approach Him directly.

The method for this is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as nine kinds of devotional service, beginning with hearing:

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ/ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam 
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ/ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
(Bhāg. 7.5.23)

The nine kinds of devotional service are hearing about Kṛṣṇa, chanting about Him, remembering Him, offering service to His lotus feet, offering Him worship in the temple, offering prayers to Him, working as His servant, making friendship with Him and unreservedly surrendering to Him. One can directly approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by executing these nine kinds of devotional service, of which hearing about the Lord is the most important (śravaṇādi). Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has very favorably stressed the importance of this process of hearing. According to His method, if people are simply given a chance to hear about Kṛṣṇa, certainly they will gradually develop their dormant awareness, or love of Godhead. Śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya (Cc. Madhya 22.107). Love of God is dormant in everyone, and if one is given a chance to hear about the Lord, certainly that love develops. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement acts on this principle. We simply give people the chance to hear about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and give them prasāda to eat, and the actual result is that all over the world people are responding to this process and becoming pure devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. We have opened hundreds of centers all over the world just to give people in general a chance to hear about Kṛṣṇa and accept Kṛṣṇa’s prasāda. These two processes can be accepted by anyone, even a child. It doesn’t matter whether one is poor or rich, learned or foolish, black or white, old or still a child — anyone who simply hears about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and takes prasāda is certainly elevated to the transcendental position of devotional service.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya was saying, kevala ānanda kanda , simply blissful that the devotees chant the holy name take Kṛṣṇa prasāda and in this way one gradually awaken love for Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.142

sei sarva-vedera ‘abhidheya’ nāma 
sādhana-bhakti haite haya premera udgama

Translation: “By practicing this regulated devotional service under the direction of the spiritual master, certainly one awakens his dormant love of Godhead. This process is called abhidheya.

Purport: By the practice of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting, the impure heart of a conditioned soul is purified, and thus he can understand his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That eternal relationship is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa.’ “The living entity is an eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” When one is convinced about this relationship, which is called sambandha, he then acts accordingly. That is called abhidheya. The next step is prayojana-siddhi, or fulfillment of the ultimate goal of one’s life. If one can understand his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and act accordingly, automatically his mission in life is fulfilled. The Māyāvādī philosophers miss even the first stage in self-realization because they have no conception of God’s being personal. He is the master of all, and He is the only person who can accept the service of all living entities, but since this knowledge is lacking in Māyāvāda philosophy, Māyāvādīs do not have knowledge even of their relationship with God. They wrongly think that everyone is God or that everyone is equal to God. Therefore, since the real position of the living entity is not clear to them, how can they advance further? Although they are very much puffed up at being liberated, Māyāvādī philosophers very shortly fall down again to material activities due to their neglecting the lotus feet of the Lord.

That is called patanty adhaḥ:

Here it is said that persons who think themselves liberated but do not execute devotional service, not knowing their relationship with the Lord, are certainly misled. One must know his relationship with the Lord and act accordingly. Then the fulfillment of his life’s mission will be possible.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, to know our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, sambandha, we are meant to serve Him. Naturally that’s the first step. But the Māyāvādīs think that they are God or equal to God, and therefore they don’t serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sanātana Gosvāmī said that people call me a learned paṇḍita but actually I am a fool, so please tell me what my duty is? So, Lord Caitanya told him, that “your duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa”, “jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa.’ In this way by engaging our activities in Kṛṣṇa's service one achieves natural awakening of love for Kṛṣṇa. So, this is not very difficult, but one has to be guided by a bonafide spiritual master and follow the system.