32 verses
The Supreme Lord said: Taking full shelter in me through bhakti as explained by me, while being without material desire, one should practice varṇāśrama.
By meditation on his spiritual goal in relation to happiness from sense objects, the purified soul should see that all endeavors of persons dedicated to material enjoyment give opposite results.
How does one become free of material desires? By meditation on his spiritual goal in relation to the happiness derived from sense objects, he should see that all endeavors give opposite results. He should see this repeatedly. Becoming convinced of this, he then becomes devoid of material desires.
Just as objects seen in dreams or in the waking mind yield no spiritual results since they depend on material objects, intelligence depending on material objects using the material senses yields no spiritual results.
Because material results are destructible, they are equivalent of their non-attainment. Spiritual results are not obtainable by material senses. That is explained in this verse. Because of taking support of many material objects, these perceptions in sleep have no spiritual result. Because the intelligence takes support of various material objects (bhedātma), by the material senses (guṇaiḥ), it yields no spiritual result. Intelligence simply being individually aware of various objects made of the guṇas by means of the senses does not yield spiritual results. The results are like objects experienced in dreams, generated from the mind, since they take support of material objects either auspicious or inauspicious. But intelligence which takes support of the Lord alone yields spiritual results. There is oneness in this perception of intelligence, concerning the Lords form, qualities pastimes and devotees, since one cannot separate them, since they are all spiritual and since they are all auspicious. It is said:
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana |
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo vyavasāyinām ||
Resolute intelligence is only one in this process, O son of the Kurus. The intelligence of those who are irresolute has many branches of action and unlimited desires. BG 2.41
The person dedicated to me engages in karmas without desire and gives up karmas for material results. The person completely fixed in yogārūòha does not care for daily or periodic karmas.
The person whose intelligence takes support of me alone performs actions without desire and gives up karmas for material results. A person who is situated in the stage after inquiry, who has reached the stage of yogārūòḥa, does not care for daily or periodic karmas since he is not qualified for that. It is said:
ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ karma kāraṇam ucyate |
yogārūòhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate ||
yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmaṣv anuṣajjate |
sarva-saḍkalpa-sannyāsī yogārūòhas tadocyate ||
For the sage wishing to attain yoga, action is said to be the cause of elevation. For the sage who has already attained yoga, cessation of action is said to be the cause of maintaining that state.
When a person has no attachment to the sense objects or to action to attain them, having renounced all desires, he is called yogārūòha--one who has attained steady meditation. BG 6.3-4
The person dedicated to me should respect the prohibitions like non-violence and the rules such as cleanliness. He should serve the peaceful guru who knows me, who is not different from me.
However this person should respectfully follow prohibitions like non-violence, and to the best of his ability observe rules like cleanliness. The Lord will explain this further in the Nineteenth Chapter. He should worship the guru with great affection.
The disciple should be without pride, without selfishness, without possessiveness and without laziness, and should have firm faith in guru and the Lord. He should be patient in attaining his goal, desirous of knowing the truth, free of envy and controlled in speech.
The qualities of the disciple are described. He should be devoid of possessiveness (nimamaḥ) and should have strong affection for guru and the Lord. He is not hasty in attaining his desired goal (asatvaraḥ).
One should see ones real self-interest in life in all circumstances and should therefore remain detached from wife, children, home, land, relatives, friends, wealth and other things.
By what type of consideration does lack of possessiveness take place? One should see neutrally ones possessions such as gold and silver. One should have possessiveness only until attaining what is necessary for survival, and not longer that that. One should view ones wife and children similarly. One should not have possessiveness because one sees that possessiveness is an impediment to full surrender to the Lord. The son of Citraketu said:
yathā vastūni paṇyāni hemādīni tatas tataḥ
paryaṭanti nareṣv evaṁ jīvo yoniṣu kartṛṣu
nityasyārthasya sambandho hy anityo dṛśyate nṛṣu
yāvad yasya hi sambandho mamatvaṁ tāvad eva hi
Just as commodities and coins pass among many people, the jīva wanders into various wombs with various fathers and mothers.
It is seen that the relationships of one object with many people are temporary. As long as the relationship lasts, one has possessiveness of the object. SB 6.16.6-7
But one should not lack possessiveness of guru and the Lord. Thus it is said one should have firm attachment to them (dṛòah-sauhṛdaḥ).
The ātmā, self-revealing, the observer, is different from the subtle and gross bodies, just as fire, the burning agent and illuminator, is different from wood, which is burned, since the revealer is different from the revealed.
One should not think the body is the self. The ātmā, the giver of consciousness, the seer or perceiver, is different from the subtle and gross bodies made of dull matter, which are objects of perception. The jīva has a small amount of consciousness. The ātmā which perceives itself (sva-dṛk) is different from material objects which are its objects of perception. Thus, how can the ātmā think the body is itself? Though Paramātmā is also self-perceiving, the jīva is perceived by the Paramātmā. Though jīva is revealed by Paramātmā, jīva also has some power to reveal. Though gold and silver are illuminated by the sun, they have some power of illumination as well. An example is given of the difference between body and soul (or Paramātmā). Fire, a burning agent, is different from wood, which is burned, because the revealer, fire (prakāśakaḥ), is different from what is revealed, wood. Just as the fire remains covered by the wood, the jīva is covered by ignorance. And just as fire burns wood and becomes uncovered by it, the jīva at the stage of knowledge becomes the burner of ignorance by his knowledge.
Just as fire, on entering wood, may appear to manifest, die, be weak, or be brilliant, the ātmā, entering a material body, accepts particular bodily characteristics.
Just as one mistakes the qualities of wood such as its tendency to be destroyed to be those of fire, though the qualities of wood do not actually reside in fire, one mistakes the qualities of the body such as its perishable nature to be those of the soul. Fire, entering wood, seems to assume qualities like destruction. The ātmā (paraḥ), entering the body, assumes qualities of the body such as destruction, out of mans misconception. Just as fire is said to take various forms, such as birth, death, small or big, the ātmā is said to take birth and die. Though there is many different jīvas, one jīva such as a devaṭā attains variety by accepting various types of bodies one after the other or simultaneously.
The jīva is bound to saṁsāra by the imposition of the subtle and gross bodies made of the Lords māyā. Vidyā cuts this bondage of the jīva.
Fire takes on the qualities of wood by contact with wood. How does the ātmā have a relation with the body and its qualities when it does not mix with them? How does one destroy that relationship? The subtle body and the gross body are made of māyās guṇas which are dependent on the Lord (puruṣasya). Saṁsāra of the jīva (puṁsaḥ) means bondage to those bodies. Though they do not have a relationship, the bodies are imposed on the jīva. The imposition of the body on the jīva takes place by the inconceivable śakti called avidyā or ignorance. Complete bondage (nibandhaḥ) occurs. Because of this complete bondage, his vidyā-śakti, by the Lords mercy, is the destroyer of that bondage of the jīva.
After understanding the pure ātmā situated within the gross and subtle bodies by careful inquiry and analysis, one should gradually give up material thinking in relation to the body.
Knowing the ātmā, completely untouched (param), situated within the gross and subtle bodies by careful analysis, one should gradually give up material thinking in relation to the body by increasing sādhana.
The guru is the wood base, the student is the wood on top, the teachings are the kindling stick, and knowledge, which brings bliss, is the fire.
To make clear that knowledge obtained from the guru can destroy avidyā and its effects, the arousal of knowledge is described through analogy with producing fire. Ādyaḥ is the lower piece of wood. Sandhānam, the stick in the middle which is rotated, is compared to the instructions. Fire, which appears in the middle, is compared to vidyā or knowledge. Śruti says ācāryaḥ pūrva-rūpam | antevāsy uttara-rūpam | vidyā sandhiḥ | pravacanaṁ sandhānam: the guru is the bottom wood and the disciple is the top wood, knowledge is the fire and the teachings are the kindling stick. (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 1.3.3)
Pure vidyā arising from the Lord destroys avidyā in the form of the gross and subtle bodies, which arise from the guṇas. After destroying avidyā and the guṇas, vidyā itself is destroyed, just as a fire goes out when deprived of fuel.
Knowledge is compared to fire. Vidyā, very pure knowledge coming from the Lord, (viśāradī) destroys māyā made of avidyā, ignorance, in the form of the imposition of the subtle and gross bodies (yad ātmam), the bondage of saṁsāra. After destroying its qualities as well, vidyā itself is destroyed just as fire goes out when fuel is exhausted. Then, by pure bhakti which has also been practiced along with vidyā (jñāna-miśra-bhakti), one attains śānti-rati and then residence on the planet of the Lord. It is said:
bhaktir muktyaiva nirvighnety ātta-yukta-viraktatāḥ |
anujjhita-mumukṣā ye bhajante te tu tāpasāḥ ||15||
The practitioners of austerity who attain śānti-rati are those who worship the Lord while practicing yukta-vairāgya without giving up the desire for liberation, since obstacles to bhakti are destroyed by attaining liberation. BRS 3.1.15
However, jñānīs who perform bhakti secondarily (bhakti-miśra-jñāna), after the destruction of avidyā and vidyā, merge into Paramātmā by their jñāna arising through their secondary bhakti.
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram ||
Only by bhakti can a person know me as Brahman. Then, knowing me as Brahman by that bhakti, he merges with me. BG 18.55
manyase sarva-bhāvānāṁ saṁsthā hy autpattikī yathā tat-tad-ākṛti-bhedena jāyate bhidyate ca dhīḥ
evam apy aḍga sarveṣāṁ
dehināṁ deha-yogataḥ
kālāvayavataḥ santi
bhāvā janmādayo sakṛt
O Uddhava! If you consider the varieties of places, time, scriptures and bodies, as well as the pleasure and pain achieved by the jīvas who perform karmas to be eternal, and consider all objects to be naturally permanent and real, with distinct forms and without a temporary nature, then repeated birth will continue because all jīvas are connected with bodies and are subject to the divisions of time.
If you object, and take shelter of the followers of Jaimini who argue with the above conclusions, please listen to the truth. If you accept that the varieties of places, time, scriptures, bodies, happiness and suffering (the result of karmas) experienced by the jīvas are eternal, according to the followers of karma, then repeated birth will continue. The verb is in the third verse. The followers of Jaimini say that detachment is not possible. However, one should become detached since all the various places of enjoyment are temporary. The time of enjoyment, the scriptures which give the method for enjoyment and the body for enjoying are all temporary.
But they maintain the opposite. They say they are all eternal. They say that there can be no detachment simply because of separation from the objects of enjoyment or because they are made of māyā. All objects like garlands, sandalwood and women are firmly established (saṁsthā) by their nature: they are eternal since they continually appear. They claim that the world will never perish. The world has no Lord. The world is substantial (yathā), not made of māyā. They say there is no eternal knowledge arising from ātmā. One becomes aware of differing forms like pot and cloth (tat tat). Thus knowledge is temporary, having a beginning, and is fragmented.
In response to this, the deep meaning is this. The ātmā is not the eternal form of knowledge, but a transformation of knowledge. But it is also not temporary because of transformation, for it is said vikriyā-jñāna-rūpasya na nityatve virudhyate: there is no contradiction to the ātmās eternal nature becaise of its changing knowledge.
Enjoyment is better than renunciation because of the impossibility of change in the liberated state when one has no senses, and because of the impossibility of attaining the highest goal by being totally inactive. In verse 16 however, the Lord emphasizes that the path of enjoyment is the cause of obstacles, in order to propose detachment.
It can be seen that the performer of karmas is powerless since he experiences both happiness and suffering. What goal is achieved by helplessness?
The performer of karmas is seen to be powerless in his enjoyment since he experiences happiness and suffering from performing his actions. Who would choose to enjoy suffering if he were completely independent? What discerning person would perform sinful acts? Thus, he is actually powerless.
The learned person is not always happy and the fool is not always suffering. Only persons with false pride will claim that one can always be happy by performing karmas.
He who performs sin cannot be called learned. It is proper that he suffer. But he who does not perform karmas should learn to perform them. Then he will never suffer. Do not say this! Among all jīvas with bodies, one cannot see anyone who is always happy or always suffering. Even the wise person does not have complete happiness. And even the fool does not have complete suffering. To say that we can always be happy by performing karmas properly is useless pride of the karmīs.
Even if people know how to achieve happiness and avoid unhappiness, they still do not know the process by which death can be averted.
Even if one has knowledge, one cannot be successful. They do not know the proper process by which death cannot exert its control.
What object or desire can bring a person happiness? Death standing next to you does not bring satisfaction. Similarly the person being led to the place of execution cannot be satisfied by an offering of sweets.
Well, at least before death one can have happiness. That is not so. Objects or the desire arising from them cannot make one happy because death being present nearby does not give happiness. When the criminal to be executed is brought to the execution place and is offered as much sweet rice as he can eat, that offering will not bring happiness. Thus material objects and desires for them are not the goal of life.
Even the happiness of Svarga is contaminated, like the happiness on earth, with intolerance of others happiness, finding fault in others qualities, death and gradual decline, as well as happiness mixed with obstacles. It is like farming, in which sometimes there is no result.
It has just been said that there is no happiness in this world. There is also no happiness in the next world. The happiness of Svarga (śrutam), like the happiness of the present world, is spoiled by intolerance of others happiness, attributing fault to others good qualities, by death and gradual destruction of what little happiness Svarga gives by enjoying it., and because one obtains happiness only after overcoming defects in actions of sacrifice. It is just like farming, where sometimes there is no result.
If one performs Vedic rites without any mistake, even this result, which is only achieved by perfect performances, will be vanquished by time. Now hear of this.
Even if one performs acts without discrepancies, one cannot eliminate suffering. This is explained in five verses. Nirjitam means accomplished.
If on earth one performs sacrifices for the satisfaction of the devatās, he goes to Svarga, where, just like a devatā, he enjoys all of the heavenly pleasures he has earned by his performances.
Traveling in a glowing airplane, which he obtains as the result of his piety on earth, he is glorified by songs sung by the Gandharvas, and, dressed in attractive clothing, he enjoys life amidst Apsarās.
Devīnām means Apsarās.
Accompanied by heavenly women, he goes on pleasure rides in an airplane decorated with rows of tinkling bells and which flies wherever he desires. Blissful in the heavenly gardens, he does not consider that he will soon fall.
He enjoys in an airplane that goes anywhere he wants.
Until his pious results are used up, he enjoys life in Svarga. When the pious results are exhausted, however, he falls from Svarga against his will, by the force of time.
He is made to fall (cālitaḥ) by time.
paśūn avidhinālabhya preta-bhūta-gaṇān yajan narakān avaśo jantur gatvā yāty ulbaṇaṁ tamaḥ
karmāṇi duḥkhodarkāṇi
kurvan dehena taiḥ punaḥ
deham ābhajate tatra
kiṁ sukhaṁ martya-dharmiṇaḥ
If a human being is engaged in sinful activities, either because of bad association or because of his inability to control his senses, such a person will be full of desires, miserable, greedy for pleasure, and attached to women. He becomes violent towards other beings and kills animals against the rules. He worships ghosts and spirits and goes to hell against his will. He attains the body of a plant. By his body he performs actions which create future suffering and attains another body by those actions. How can the person with a body leading to death attain happiness in that body?
There are two types of people qualified for action--the religious and sinful. The destination of the religious has been described. The destination of sinful is now described. The word vā indicates that some people by their nature cannot control their senses. Because they are full of desires, they become miserable, and then overcome by thirst for enjoyment. They indulge in women and for that purpose commit violence to other beings. They kill animals against the rules. It is said śyenenābhicaran yajeta: one should worship by offering sacrificial victims to inflict injury on others. (Apastambha Śrauta Sūtra 22.4.13)They end up in the worst darkness, as plants. Verse 29 summarizes: there is no happiness in performing karmas.
All the planetary systems and all of the great devatās who live for one thousand yuga cycles fear me. Even Brahmā, who possesses the supreme life span of 311,040,000,000,000 years, is afraid of me.
Eternal existence of Svarga and other places, and of the protectors of those places, is rejected, even though they are said to be eternal in some scriptures just to satisfy materialistic persons according to the principle of tuṣyatu durjanaḥ: let the opponent be satisfied. Mad-bhayam means they fear me. Śruti says:
bhīṣāsmād vātaḥ pavate, bhīṣodeti sūryaḥ |
bhīṣāsmād agniś cendraś ca, mṛtyur dhāvati pañcamaḥ ||
In fear of the Lord the wind blows, and the sun rises. Out of fear of the Lord, Agni, Indra and death flee. Taittīrya Upanisad 2.8.1
By natures evidence of the Lords existence, atheism is rejected.
The material senses create material activities with results, either pious or sinful, and the modes of nature set the material senses into motion. The living entity, being fully engaged by the material senses and modes of nature, experiences the various results of action.
Verse 28 explained that the sinful person goes to hell though he does not desire it. How does the jīva lose control? That is explained in this verse. The senses produce visible and invisible results from actions such as worship of devatās, enjoying ones wife or others wives, hearing and other sense activities, farming or trading. The three guṇas create those senses. The jīva, endowed with his senses and the three guṇas, experiences the good and bad results of action.
As long as the jīva acts through his senses and creates various destinations, he will attain a variety of bodies. As long as such bodies exist, he will remain dependent on karma.
As long as the jīva acts with his senses and produces diversity in high or low destinations, he will attain variety of devatā or animal bodies. As long as that variety exists, the jīva remains dependent on karma.
As long as the jīva is dependent on karma, he will fear the controller of karma. Those who devote themselves to material rituals are bewildered and subject to lamentation.
The Lord condemns those who claim that the path of enjoyment is the best. Those who dedicate themselves to material rituals are filled with lamentation and are bewildered.
When there is agitation and interaction of the material modes of nature, I take on various forms of māyā: as the time for enjoyment, the body suitable for enjoyment, as the scriptures proclaiming karma, as the places giving enjoyment, as causes of transformation, and as rules for creating enjoyment.
Some accept Svarga, the time of enjoyment, the scriptures proclaiming karma, and the body attained by karma to be eternal and supreme. Svabhāva refers to the cause of transformation into devatās and other forms. Dharma, the code of rules, is the cause of enjoyment. When māyā is agitated, I take on many forms, which are products of my māyā-śakti. Therefore the conclusion is that the jīva should strive for freedom from the bondage of karma.
Uddhava said: O Lord! The jīva in his uncovered state exists in the guṇas created by his body, but yet he is not bound up by the guṇas. How did he become bound up in the first place?
According to you the goal is liberation. This is achieved by practice of bhakti, jñāna and vairāgya. When that takes place, a person is said to be liberated. But I do not understand this. Even though Dattātreya and Bharata were liberated they maintained gross and subtle bodies, since we hear that they ate, slept and walked about. If that is so, why is that jīva not bound by the guṇas, since he exists within the guṇas of his body? If you say the uncovered jīva is not bound up because he is like the ether in his spiritual state, then bondage should not have occurred at all. How was the uncovered jīva bound up in the body?
etad acyuta me brūhi praśnaṁ praśna-vidāṁ vara nitya-baddho nitya-mukta eka eveti me bhramaḥ
By what symptoms can I know the liberated jīva, since he carries on existence, enjoys, evacuates, sleeps, eats, sits and walks using a material identity? O Lord! O best answerer of questions! Please answer my question. Those who are completely bound up and those who are perfectly liberated seem to be the same. This is my confusion.
If one is bound by identity with sense objects and senses, then, by destruction of the sense objects, senses and guṇas, one becomes liberated even in the presence of the guṇas. How should I understand this? Uddhava thus asks questions. What qualities should I seek in a liberated person, since existing, enjoying, eating, evacuation, sleeping, sitting and going are actions related to material identity? Since perfectly liberated persons like Dattātreya and Bharata carry out daily activities like the completely bound jīvas, they seem to be the same. This is confusing. It is impossible for me to understand the difference. You must tell me. The word nitya here means perfect.
Thus ends the commentary on Tenth Chapter of the Eleventh Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
In the Tenth Chapter jñāna, the bondage of the jīva because of relationship with his body and the philosophy of Jaimini as well as its refutation are presented. Having presented teachings, the Lord now teaches the sādhana. Taking shelter of the dharma explained in the Pañcarātra scriptures by me, perform varṇāśrama duties.