No. 53, 1973

GODHEAD IS LIGHT, NESCIENCE IS DARKNESS. WHERE THERE IS GODHEAD THERE IS NO NESCIENCE

THE MAGAZINE OF THE HARE KRISHNA MOVEMENT

One of our most important purposes in publishing Back to Godhead Magazine is to teach the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Everyone can easily chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare and always be happy.

The philosophy of Back to Godhead is that every living being, whether he appears in a black body, white body, yellow body or even in an animal’s or tree’s body, is an eternal servant of God. All of these different bodies are only different kinds of outward dress. Just as a dramatic actor may appear continually in different costumes, so, although we are pure spirit souls, we appear in different bodies. Our real, joyful life begins as soon as we admit to Our real identity as pure spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa or God. Anyone who is interested in his real spiritual identity should read Back to Godhead to clarify and perfect his philosophical understanding of himself and God, and also he should chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. As he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, the entire science of God will be revealed to him. If one seriously chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and regularly reads Back to Godhead, he can live peacefully and blissfully in this life, and at the time of death he can go directly to associate with Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual sky. To promote this blissful reunion between the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa and His separated parts and parcels is the main purpose of Back to Godhead.

Founder (under the direction of His Divine Grace Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda) His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.

Editor:

Satsvarūpa dāsa Gosvāmī

Published monthly $4.50 per year ($6.00 outside USA) by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 3764 Watseka Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90034.

Same as BTG #45

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is presenting a scientific program for the respiritualization of all of human society. Although man has made rapid material progress, there is a need for a spiritual method by which all men can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity through a common cause. The greatest cause for all men is devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus is being introduced all over the world by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in a simple, practical and universal way that can be accepted by men of any race, religion or nationality. For information on how you can become a registered member of this important spiritual movement, please write to the Society's secretary at 3764 Watseka Avenue, Los Angeles, California.

When Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, was playing like a child of this material world to manifest His eternal pastimes, He used to break the butter pots of His foster mother Yaśodā and distribute the contents to His friends. Out of her pure love, mother Yaśodā once decided to punish her transcendental son, and she took a rope and threatened to tie up the Lord, who then bowed His head and began to weep just like an ordinary child. This picture of the Lord is adored by pure devotees because they are conscious of the Lord's supreme position.

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The word Govinda refers to one who gives pleasure to the cows and the. senses. There are many incarnations of Godhead, but Govinda is the ādi-puruṣa, or the original person. As such He is not technically an incarnation of God but is God Himself, the source of incarnations. Govinda is not some impersonal effulgence or void but a person complete in every respect. Unless the origin of everything is a person, how can so many persons or individual living entities—be they men, animals, demigods, trees or plants—exist all over the universe? Every living entity is an individual spirit soul, and every individual spirit soul is a person. How, then, can the origin of everything be impersonal and nothing more? Personal qualities must be there in Him, otherwise they cannot be reflected in this material world. This then is the conclusion of Lord Brahmā in the verse Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Lord Brahmā is the original creature in this universe, and in Brahma-saṁhitā he states that his origin is also a person. “I worship that original person,” he states throughout Brahma-saṁhitā.

The whole world is laboring under the impersonal conception. No one actually knows anything, of course, but they have developed an impersonal philosophy by means of speculation. But how can this impersonalism stand?

It is contradicted at every step of our experience, for every individual entity is a person, and the complete whole from which all entities emanate is also a Person. Ādi-puruṣaṁ. This is the verdict of Lord Brahmā, who, having created the universe, knows well what is within this universe. We have very little knowledge of what is within this Universe, and what is beyond is totally unknown to us. This is not the Case with Lord Brahmā, however. Lord Brahmā is adi-kavaye, which means that he is the original learned person, the creator of this universe. Tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. (Bhāg. 1.1.1). The origin of everything, the Absolute, the summum bonum, cannot be impersonal, for He is the origin of the person Brahmā. We have no experience of a person coming from something impersonal; because my father is a person, I am also a person. If we trace back through our family trees, we will find that one person comes from another person, and somehow, if it were possible to trace our origins back to the beginning of creation, we will find the original person whom Brahmā is praising. The origin of the universe is not void, nor is it some primeval muck, but the origin is a learned person.

Brahmā, being the first creature, received his knowledge from the original person, and that is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The word Brahmā means jñāna or knowledge. One may question how Brahmā could learn from another person if he were the original creature in the universe. Who was the spiritual master who imparted knowledge to him? In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is indicated that that knowledge came from within the heart of Brahmā. God is situated in everyone’s heart, and although Brahmā was the first and only creature at the time, the other person, the ādi-puruṣa, was within his heart. It is also stated in Bhagavad-gītā that īśvara, the Supreme Lord, is situated within everyone’s heart and is giving directions to everyone.

“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” (Bg. 8.61)

Those who are not devotees cannot understand how it is that Kṛṣṇa or God is giving instructions from within the heart, but those who are devotees can understand. The devotees therefore are trying to hear the Lord from within, but in order to hear properly this special qualification is needed. One must be at a certain stage of spiritual advancement. In Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa indicates that to those who are devoted to Him, He gives the means whereby they can understand Him:

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10)

The words teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ mean “to be engaged.” The devotees of Kṛṣṇa engage full-time in devotional service out of love (prīti-pūrvakam). The devotees always enjoy thinking, “Here is an opportunity to serve Kṛṣṇa.” The more they engage in service, the more they are pleased and the faster they make advancement in spiritual life. There is no question of retirement. When we perform some material service, we get tired and think, “Oh, I have worked so much. Now let me take a vacation.” However, when one performs spiritual service, he actually gets more energy and says, “Let me serve more.” To such a sincere devotee, the Lord, sitting within the heart, gives instructions: “Do this, and you will very soon come to Me.” He also gives different instructions to others who do not want to turn to Him. “You want to do this? Here is your opportunity then. If you want to steal, then go ahead.” If we wish not to turn to Kṛṣṇa, if we wish to forget Him completely, He will give us that facility, for He is always satisfying our desires. Consequently it is stated in Bhagavad-gītā that He gives us remembrance of Himself and also allows us to forget, if that is our desire.

“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” (Bg. 15.15)

Ordinary persons cannot understand how God can be a person because they think, “God must be a person like me.” Therefore in some of the scriptures a personality is denied, for as soon as the foolish accept a personality, they think, “God is a person like me.” Therefore it is said, “God is not a person,” and in some religions, like the Judaic religion, even images of God in the form of pictures or statues are not allowed. But this is not to say that God is not a person at all. When it is said that God is not a person, we should understand that He is not a person like us. In actuality, He is a person, but He is a different kind of person. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ: [Bs. 5.1] His personality is eternal; His body does not die like ours. His body is full of bliss, whereas our body is full of misery. His body is full of knowledge, whereas ours is full of ignorance. And He is īśvara, the controller, whereas we are the controlled. How then can God be a person like us?

Because we are incapable of understanding how the Absolute Truth can be a person, we have to take lessons from Brahmā, the supreme poet and sage of the universe who is the first created person. We are all in the Brahma-sampradayā, or the disciplic succession starting from Lord Brahmā; therefore we accept Brahmā’s statements and worship ādi-puruṣam, Govinda. We may not know that ādi-puruṣa, but if we follow in the footsteps of the ācāryas, great spiritual teachers, we will not have difficulty. Govinda gives Brahmā instructions from within his heart, and Brahmā gives instructions to his disciple Nārada, and Nārada gives instructions to his disciple Vyāsa. Vyāsa’s disciple Madhvācārya repeats the same message, then Īśvara Purī, and then his disciple Caitanya Mahāprabhu, then the gosvāmīs, etc. In this way knowledge is received by paramparā, step by step in the disciplic succession. When the same message is repeated without deviation, the knowledge is transmitted perfectly.

From the śāstras or scriptures we learn that the ādi-puruṣa or original person expands Himself in many incarnations. These incarnations are diverse, and their activities are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. On one occasion Lord Kṛṣṇa incarnated as a boar, Varāha, and lifted the world up when it was merged within the waters of the Garbhodaka Ocean. The demon Hiraṇyakṣa pushed the earth within the watery half of the universe, and Lord Kṛṣṇa, in the shape of a boar, not only delivered the planet but annihilated the demon. On another occasion the Lord appeared as a small fish in a water pot, and as time elapsed this fish got bigger and had to be taken to a reservoir. The fish kept increasing in size, and when He was quite huge He informed Manu, “Devastation is coming. Take all the Vedas and put them in a boat, and I shall protect them.” Therefore Jayadeva Gosvāmī sings in his prayer, “My Lord, in the shape of a fish You saved the Vedas when there was devastation.” The incarnations of Godhead are described in prayers offered by Jayadeva Gosvāmī, a Vaiṣṇava poet who appeared about seven hundred years before Lord Caitanya. Jayadeva was a great devotee, and he wrote a very famous song about the Lord called Gītā-govinda. He offers another prayer to the tortoise incarnation. Once the demons and demigods were using a great hill as a churning rod and were churning the ocean with it. The resting place of the churning rod was the shell of the tortoise incarnation. Jayadeva Gosvāmī therefore prayed: “You appeared as a tortoise just to be a resting place for the churning rod. Your back itched, and You accepted this hill as a rod to scratch the itch.”

In another incarnation, Nṛsiṁha-deva, the Lord appeared in order to save Prahlāda Mahārāja, a five-year-old boy who was being tortured by his atheistic father. The Lord appeared from a pillar of the father’s palace as a half-man, half-lion. Prahlāda’s father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, had received benediction from Lord Brahmā that assured him that he would not be killed by any man or animal, so the Lord appeared neither as man nor as animal. We often think that we can thus cheat the Lord by our intelligence, but the Lord is more intelligent than we.

In another incarnation the Lord appeared as Vāmana, a dwarf. Lord Vāmana appeared before Bali Mahārāja, who had conquered all the universal planets and had thus disturbed the demigods. Vāmana said, “I am a brāhmaṇa, and I have come to beg from you.” Bali Mahārāja said, “Yes, I’ll give You what You want.” The dwarf asked for only three feet of land, and Bali Mahārāja granted His wish. Vāmanadeva then took one step and covered half the universe, and then He took another step and covered the other half. Bali Mahārāja then said, “There is no place for You to take the third step, so please place Your foot on my head.” In another incarnation, as Paraśurāma, the Lord killed all of the kṣatriya kings twenty-one times because of the kings’ dishonesty. From the history of the Mahābhārata, it can be understood that at that time some of the kṣatriyas fled and took shelter in Europe, and consequently modern Europeans are descendants of those kṣatriyas. As Lord Rāma, the Lord fought with Rāvaṇa, a demon with ten heads, and ruled the earth as an ideal king. As Balarāma, the elder brother of Kṛṣṇa and the incarnation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, the Lord was very beautiful, white in complexion, and He wore blue garments. Once He became angry with the Yamunā River, and He threatened to dry it up. Out of fear of Balarāma, the Yamunā agreed to cooperate with Him. As Lord Buddha, the Lord destroyed the Vedic principles with flawless logic and is therefore considered an atheist. Lord Buddha, however, was an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, and he denied the Vedas in order to save animals which were being sacrificed according to the injunctions of the Vedas. In the name of Vedic sacrifice, people were improperly killing animals, and the Lord, as Lord Buddha, appeared to preach nonviolence.

At the end of this age, Kali-yuga, the Lord will appear as Kalki. According to the Vedas, Kalki will appear 427,000 years from now, and His mission will simply be to kill. Lord Kṛṣṇa gave instructions in the form of Bhagavad-gītā, but Lord Kalki will not give any instructions. At the end of Kali-yuga people will be so degraded that they will not be able to understand any instructions; therefore the only recourse will be to kill them. One who is killed by the Lord attains salvation. This is one of the Lord’s all-merciful qualities; whether He protects or kills, the result is the same. Thus Kalki will appear at the last stage of Kali-yuga and annihilate everything, and after that time, Satya-yuga (the Golden Age) will begin again.

In this way we can see that God is not only a person as the ādi-puruṣa, the original person, but that He manifests Himself throughout the universe in innumerable incarnations and expansions which are also personal in quality.

Despite all this, we often challenge the Lord and say, “There is no God,” or “I am God,” or even “I don’t care for God.” Despite this attitude, which is typical of this age, God is there, and we can see Him at every moment. If we deny God’s personality, then He will be present before us as cruel death. In Bhagavad-gītā there are instructions teaching us how we can gradually understand God and see Him personally, face to face. In Bhagavad-gītā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself states, “I am the taste of water, I am the sunlight, I am the moonlight, I am the vibration of sound in the sky, and amongst great personalities I am the greatest.” If anyone is actually serious about understanding God, or the science of God, he can follow the injunctions given in Bhagavad-gītā and realize God in so many ways. Everyone is tasting water daily, so if we remember that God is the taste of water, then God realization begins. Who has not seen the moon or the sun? And who has not heard sound vibrating in the air? In so many ways we can see, feel and hear God. Everyone sees God at every moment, but the atheists claim they do not see Him because He does not exist.

Without God consciousness, or without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there cannot be any peace. Everyone is hankering after peace, but no one knows how to achieve it. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is promoting the greatest welfare work in the world. The process of understanding this science of Kṛṣṇa is made very easy in this age by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu through the chanting of the holy names of God, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. In the Vedas it is stated that in this age people are so fallen that they cannot realize God by any of the prescribed methods; therefore it is recommended that by chanting the holy names of God in this age one can get all the benefits derived in previous ages from meditation, temple worship and sacrifice. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself, instructs us that the holy name of God is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord; therefore all the energy that God has is also there in His holy name. Now on the absolute platform there is no difference between the word and its referent; therefore there is no difference between the holy name of God and God Himself.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the name of God, and therefore the names can he chanted anywhere and everywhere. In this age the blind are following the blind, for no one knows the aim and objective of human society or the perfection of human life. Life is perfected through self-realization and the reestablishment of our lost relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is attempting to enlighten human society on this important point. According to Vedic civilization, the perfection of life is to realize one’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa. From Bhagavad-gītā we can understand that all living entities—not only human beings, but animals and lower life forms-are parts and parcels of God. The parts of anything are meant to serve the whole, just as the hands are meant to serve the body. Similarly, as living entities that are part of God, we are duty bound to serve Him.

Actually our position is that we are always rendering service to someone. We are always serving our bodies and the extensions of our bodies in the form of family, society, country and so on. If a person has no one to serve, he sometimes keeps a pet cat or dog and renders service unto it. Constitutionally we are made to render service to the Supreme Person, but when we deny that person we are forced to render service to something else. In any case, the rendering of service will be there, and that rendering of service is called sanātana-dharma, or the eternal activity or occupation of the living entity. On the material platform, despite rendering service to our best capacity, we are never satisfied, nor is the person to whom we are rendering that service satisfied. In the material conception, everyone is frustrated, because the service rendered is not properly directed. If we want to render service to a tree, we must water its roots, not just its branches and leaves. Similarly, if the stomach is given food, all the other parts of the body are nourished. We should understand therefore that if the Supreme Personality of Godhead is served, all His parts and parcels will be satisfied also. Therefore all welfare activities, including all service to society, family and nation, are perfected by serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In a conversation with his disciple, Nārada Muni, Lord Brahmā made the following statement: “The Vedic literatures are made by and are meant for the Supreme Lord. The demigods are also meant to serve the Lord as parts of the body, the different planets are also meant for the sake of the Lord, and different sacrifices are performed just to please Him. All different types of meditation or mysticism are meant for realizing Him. All austerities are aimed at achieving Him. Culture of transcendental knowledge is for getting a glimpse of Him, and ultimately salvation is in entering His kingdom.” (Bhāg. 2.5.15–16) By following in the footsteps of Lord Brahmā, we can attain that ultimate salvation and glimpse that Supreme Person worshiped by Lord Brahmā and all other demigods in the universe.

photo p4: Lord Brahmā, seated on his lotus, worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

photo p5: The Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself in many incarnations

photo p7: By chanting the holy names of God one can get all benefits.

photo p8: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the supreme goal of life.

As commonly understood, bhakti and science are diametrically opposed. Bhakti (devotion) is supposed to rest on blind faith and absolute surrender of human reason and will, while science is supposed to rest on observation and experiment. The bhakta does not doubt, for he says, saṁśayātmā—the man who doubts is doomed. Science feeds on doubt, for it says that doubt leads to true knowledge.

No wonder, therefore, that in this age of science bhakti is regarded as a sign of backwardness and an effort to escape from the realities of life. But what is strange is that the scientists who swear by truth and open-mindedness, and do not accept or reject anything unless it is scientifically proved or disproved, generally adopt the most unscientific attitude towards bhakti. They reject bhakti and all that it stands for without caring to test its propositions scientifically.

The scientists argue that the propositions of bhakti are not amenable to scientific treatment. But they are mistaken. Bhakti is as much a science as physics, chemistry or any other science. It is based on observation and experiment, and its results are capable of verification. But bhakti is a transcendental science, and its experiments are of a different nature. They are also more difficult than the experiments of ordinary science, for while in ordinary science experiments are made on outside objects, in bhakti the object of experiment is one’s own self. It is not easy to do with self what we ordinarily do with other objects in scientific experiments.

In a scientific experiment the object of study is taken in its pure and original form and in isolation from all other things. Since nature does not always present things in a pure and unmixed form, the object under study has first to be isolated from other things. After this is done, certain changes are made in it, and the results are carefully watched. Under different conditions the thing is found to behave in different ways. In this manner, the laws governing its behavior are discovered. The body of knowledge comprising those laws is called a science.

The science of bhakti deals with the self in relation to Bhagavan or Kṛṣṇa. The self also does not exist in its pure form. It is qualified by its association with the body and the sense objects. Its vision is blurred by egoism, greed, lust, anger, jealousy and hatred. The first condition of a scientific experiment in bhakti, therefore, is the purification of the self. This is not easy to attain. One can easily manipulate the objects outside the self. One can explode a hydrogen bomb or send an object to the moon. But when it comes to doing something that may change the age-old association of the soul with the things that are extraneous to it, that is a different matter.

It is human nature to find reasons to ridicule that which is difficult to attain. This partly explains the attitude of the scientist toward bhakti. But there are many persons who have performed the experiments in bhakti in spite of this apparent difficulty. The science of bhakti is the result of generalizations made by them which are described in such works as Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Ujjvala-nilamani, Bhakti-sandarblia, Priti-sandarblia and many others. The detailed, precise and systematic treatment in these works of the laws of bhakti, the stages of bhakti, the kinds of bhakti and the conditions of the various experiments in bhakti will easily convince anyone who goes through them that bhakti is, by all standards, a science.

There are two questions one must ask while trying to ascertain whether a certain body of knowledge should be called a science:

(1) How far has it succeeded in discovering the real nature of the object of its study?

(2) How far are the laws it has discovered necessary or absolute?

Judging in the light of these questions, we find not only that bhakti is a science, but that it is the only science which deserves to be so called. For it alone gives us real knowledge, and its laws alone are necessary. Developments in modern science have compelled the scientists to acknowledge that they are not able to discover the real nature of anything, nor are the laws they discover necessary.

We may illustrate this with reference to the science of physics, which is not only the most advanced science today, but which also basically runs into all other sciences.

First, let us take the question relating to the knowledge of the real nature of the object of study and compare, from this point of view, the results obtained by the science of physics with those of bhakti.

The physicist, trying to discover the real nature of matter, found that the smallest piece of matter, smaller than even the point of a pin, was composed of millions of electrons. He tried to study the nature of electrons and found that they were “disembodied charges of electricity,” that is, electricity existing apart from matter. But though they were disembodied charges of electricity, they seemed to behave sometimes like a particle and sometimes like a wave. Eddington, therefore, suggested that they should be called “wavicles” to indicate their dual character, but their real nature remained unknown. If they were not any thing charged with electricity, but electricity itself, the question remained, what ultimately is electricity? The reply was that it is energy or śakti. Energy, it was further explained, was a process. But energy or śakti always pertains to the śaktimān or possesser of energy, and a process is always the process of some thing moving or acting or doing something. What is that which possesses the energy? What is that thing of which the energy is a process? The physicist has not been able to answer these questions. And he will never be able to answer them, for he has reduced everything to energy, and nothing else remains to which he may point in answer to these questions. The real nature of matter thus remains unknown to him. He cannot say anything about it except that it is “he knows not what.” Eddington says, “Something unknown is doing we do not know what—that is what our theory amounts to.”

All matter or unconscious things having been reduced by the scientist to some kind of energy or śakti, it is obvious that this energy can only be referred to some conscious principle. Scientists like Einstein, Eddington, James Jeans and J. B. S. Haldane have already recognized this. Eddington says, “Modern physics has eliminated the notion of substance. … I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness.” J.B.S. Haldane says, “The material world, which has been taken for a world of blind mechanism, is in reality a spiritual world seen very partially and imperfectly. … The truth is that not Matter, not Force, not any physical thing, but Mind, Personality, is the central fact of the universe.”

But the scientists can do no more than guess about the existence of the conscious principle underlying this universe, whereas bhakti provides direct, intimate and certain knowledge of it. The bhakta knows that the śakti which, according to the physicist, pervades the entire universe, is the śakti of para-brahman (the Supreme Absolute).

“Just as the rays of fire located at one place are spread all over, the śakti of para-brahman extends all over in the form of the world.” (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.22.54)

The principle behind the śakti manifesting itself in the form of the World is so subtle that it must always remain beyond the reach of the physical sciences. It can be apprehended only by the soul purified by bhakti.

“Just as by the application of good ointment the eye is slowly cleansed and made capable of seeing finer objects, the soul of a devotee is gradually purified by listening to My divine narratives and is able to see the subtle spiritual principle of Mine.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.26)

This spiritual principle, which is fundamental to the science of bhakti, can be tested like any other principle of science. It has actually been tested a number of times by bhaktas like Prahlāda and Mīrā Bai who have proved, by making such physical objects as a pillar and a cobra appear as Nṛsiṁha Bhagavan and Śālagrāma (forms of Kṛṣṇa), that the physical world is in essence the śakti of Bhagavān or Kṛṣṇa and that Bhagavān, as the possessor of that śakti, is present in it everywhere.

Now let us take the second question relating to the laws. Since the time of Galileo and Newton, scientists have believed that the world is a big machine governed purely by mechanical laws. By the end of the Twentieth Century even the human brain came to be regarded as an intricate machine, governed by the purely mechanical laws of cause and effect. The concept of the free will of man was destroyed, and religion and morality ceased to have any meaning for science.

But the emergence of the electron on the stage of science brought about a complete revolution. The myth of the mechanistic structure of the universe was exploded. The electrons, which were recognized as the ultimate units of the physical world, were found not to be governed by mechanical laws. They seemed to be completely free in their behavior. The law of causation which is a presupposition of science was found to have no meaning for them.1 If there was any law at all which governed their behavior, it was the Law of Indeterminacy, as Professor Heisenberg called it. The apparent determinism in events and the uniformity of nature were illusions, created by the functioning of electrons in crowds.

James Jeans explains this by means of the following illustration: “If we spin a half-penny, nothing within our knowledge will be able to decide whether it will come down heads or tails, yet if we throw up a million tons of halfpence, we know there will be 500,000 tons of heads and 500,000 tons of tails. The experiment may be repeated time after time and will always give the same result. We may be tempted to instance it as evidence of the uniformity of nature, and to infer the action of an underlying law of causation: in actual fact it is an instance only of the operation of the purely mathematical laws of chance.”2

There is no determinism in events in which electrons are involved singly, but when a huge crowd of them is involved, as in the smallest piece of matter with which the earlier physicists could experiment, the illusion of determinacy creeps in. But this apparent determinism in large-scale events is of a statistical nature. Dirac describes it as follows: “When an observation is made on any atomic system … in a given state the result will not in general be determinate, i.e., if the experiment is repeated several times under identical conditions several different results may be obtained. If the experiment is repeated a large number of times, it will be found that each particular result will be obtained a definite fraction of the total number of times, so that one can say there is a definite probability of its being obtained any time the experiment is performed. This probability the theory enables one to calculate.” The laws of the physical sciences are, thus, not fully determinate or necessary. They are only laws of probability based on the mathematical law of averages.

The science of bhakti does not, at first sight, seem to be in a more advantageous position than any of the physical sciences in respect of its laws, for it deals with man in loving relationship with God. Both man and God are free in their behavior like the electrons, and thus there can hardly be any laws regarding their behavior, But bhakti has nothing to do with man and God who are free. In bhakti both man and God are bound in love. The God of bhakti is not simply the creator, destroyer and controller of the universe, but the cowherd boy who loves to dance to the tune of the milkmaids of Vraja. The God of bhakti is the God who says, ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīno hy asvatantra iva dvija: “I am wholly governed by My bhaktas. I am not free in the least.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.4.63) In the realm of bhakti it is not God who reigns but premā, which is but an advanced stage of bhakti. Both bhakta and Bhagavān (God) seek fulfillment in premā. Premā is the summum bonum for the bhakta as well as for Bhagavān. The bhakta does not seek Bhagavān but pure, selfless, dispassionate love for Him. Similarly, Bhagavān does not seek anything but love. He need not seek anything else, for there is nothing which, as the most perfect being, He does not already possess. But as Love He is never perfect. Love is nothing but incessant yearning for more love. Perfection in love means negation of love. Every fulfillment in love creates a gap which calls for further fulfillment. Love is, therefore, essentially dynamic, a vital upward surge through a necessary downward movement. It is self-fulfillment in self-abandonment, self-realization in self-effacement.

Since both bhakta and Bhagavān are fully bound by bhakti, the laws of bhakti are fully determinate. They are neither the laws of probability nor the mathematical and illusory laws of averages like the laws of the physical sciences, but they are objective and necessary. To take an example, there is a law of attraction in bhakti which may be compared to the law of gravitation in the physical sciences. According to this law, bhakti attracts Bhagavān as a magnet attracts a piece of iron.3 So Kṛṣṇa says, nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe yogināṁ hṛdayeṣu vā tattat tiṣṭhāmi nārada yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktāḥ. “I live neither in My celestial abode nor in the heart of the yogis, but I go and sit wherever My bhaktas sing.” (ĀdiPurāṇa) And again: anuvrajāmy ahaṁ nityaṁ pūyeyetyāṅghri-reṇubhiḥ. “I walk on the heels of My bhaktas so that I may be purified by the dust of their feet.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.16)

The law of gravitation may fail. There is nothing in modern science to guarantee that it will not. But the law of attraction in bhakti can never fail, for it is guaranteed by Bhagavān. It is possible that a fruit may leave the tree and not drop on the ground, but it is not possible that the flower of bhakti may blossom in the heart of a devotee and Kṛṣṇa may not be attracted by it.

As some other examples of laws of bhakti, we may cite the following:

(1) The law of reciprocity, according to which Bhagavān fully reciprocates the devotional attitude of the bhakta.4

(2) The law of total self-surrender, according to which Bhagavān fully absolves a bhakta of all his sins the moment he completely surrenders himself to Him.5

(3) The law of exclusive meditation, according to which Bhagavān Himself provides the means and end of bhakti to a bhakta who exclusively and incessantly meditates on Him.6

Each of these laws is absolute. Anyone who tries them will find that the results are always the same. Thus the laws of bhakti as well as the knowledge obtained through it are absolute. The absoluteness of the laws of bhakti is due to the fact that bhakti itself is an absolute science. It is not conditioned by anything, not even by Bhagavān, who is the Condition of all conditions and Cause of all causes. On the contrary, Bhagavān Himself is conditioned by bhakti.7 The laws of the other sciences cannot be absolute for the simple reason that those sciences are relative and conditioned, at least by the will of Bhagavān. But the knowledge the science of bhakti provides is ultimate and absolute because it is the knowledge of the real nature of Bhagavān, the center and source of all knowledge.

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ 8

Truly the bhakta holds within his grasp the very heart and soul of Bhagavan.9

Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the original energy of the eternal spirit soul. This devotional service or bhakti-yoga is not like a religion or yoga process in which one engages part-time, once every Sunday, or for an hour in the morning. Actually, it is the natural activity of the liberated soul. It concerns every sphere of life. There is a Kṛṣṇa conscious way to do everything—a way to eat and sleep, a way to mate and defend, a way to do physical labor, business and farming, a way to administer and govern, and a way to perform intellectual work. There is a Kṛṣṇa Conscious way to be a student, a householder, a retired person or a renounced man. In all activities, in all statuses and classes of life, we can do things in the transcendental way of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Since eating is one of the most basic and important of all activities, this article discusses the Kṛṣṇa conscious way to eat.

Food is so important that the gradations of human beings and animals can be calculated according to their eating processes. In human society, for example, the dog-eater is considered to be the lowest, while among animals the stool-eater is likewise lowest. Indeed, George Bernard Shaw wrote a book called You Are What You Eat. The eating process is important, for if one cats like a cat or dog, he’ll become like a cat or dog, even in this life.

In Bhagavad-gītā there is a discussion of food in terms of the modes or qualities of material nature. Material nature is said to be made Lip of three modes (guṇas), namely, goodness, passion and ignorance, and when the living entity or spirit Soul comes into contact with the material nature, he becomes conditioned by the modes.

The mode of goodness is purer than the others, and one in goodness develops knowledge and becomes conditioned by happiness. The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, and one in passion becomes bound to the fruits of his actions. Moroseness and sleepiness characterize a person in ignorance, and he becomes conditioned by madness.

Kṛṣṇa further explains to Arjuna in the Seventeenth Chapter of the Gītā that persons situated in different modes are attracted to different kinds of food. The Supreme Lord says: “Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify existence, give strength and increase health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy and fatty, and they are very conducive to the health of the body. Food that is too bitter, too sour, too salty, too pungent, too dry or too hot causes distress, misery and disease. Such food is very dear to those in the mode of passion. Foods prepared more than three hours before being eaten, which are tasteless, juiceless, decomposing, which have a bad smell, and which consist of remnants and untouchable things, are very dear to those in the mode of darkness.” (Bhagavad-gītā, 17.8-10)

Thus a person eats according to his conditioned state. Whether one is situated primarily in goodness, passion or ignorance, he is still bound by the ropes of material nature. One may avoid untouchable things like meat and liquor and cat only milk products, Sugar, rice, wheat, fruits, vegetables and other foods dear to those in the mode of goodness. He may take his animal fat from milk and his protein from peanuts, whole wheat, dahl, etc., thus avoiding the subhuman practice of slaughtering animals. Yet still he will remain situated within the material energy and will be bound by karmic reaction. Vegetarianism is not enough. It is necessary to transcend the modes of material nature, even in eating: “When he is able to transcend these three qualities, the embodied being can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.” (Bg. 14.20)

Kṛṣṇa points out, “No one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.” (Bg. 3.5) One has to act because the living force is by nature active. But, for an embodied being, each and every action produces a reaction, good or bad, that binds him to the material world. This is called karma. Yet how can we stop acting? If we want to eat we have to act, and eating is one of the necessities of life; if we stopped eating we would die. However, when we eat food prepared to satisfy our hunger, with each mouthful our involvement in the complexities of material nature deepens. The karma is there.

This is the dilemma of all embodied souls—how to act without entanglement. This is the same dilemma that perplexed Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. There was no question of Arjuna’s not fighting in the battle, but Kṛṣṇa instructed him how to fight. The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: “O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. Thus You will be freed of all reactions to good and evil deeds, and by this principle of renunciation you will be liberated and come to Me.” (Bg. 9.27-28)

This is the solution offered by the Supreme Lord to the dilemma of all embodied souls. When our actions are all done for Kṛṣṇa, and not for ourselves, such actions produce no karma. Neither desiring nor hating the fruits of activities, one should simply do everything for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, and thus his consciousness will remain steadily fixed on the Supreme, though his actions appear to be ordinary.

Thus Kṛṣṇa wants us to eat only food offered first in sacrifice to Him. He says: “The devotees of the Lord are released from all sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.” (Bg. 3.13)

The Kṛṣṇa conscious person sees himself always as a servant of the supreme enjoyer. His meditation on Kṛṣṇa is uninterrupted and steady, and he does not need to drop down to the level of material sense gratification to eat. In the kitchen, he is thinking of Kṛṣṇa, for whom he prepares palatable dishes. He does not enjoy the food while he is preparing it, nor does he taste it, even to adjust the spices. Kṛṣṇa is the first to enjoy. Then, with love and devotion, he offers the preparation to Kṛṣṇa, who is the pleasure reservoir of the senses, and says pleasing prayers asking Kṛṣṇa to please accept his offering. Kṛṣṇa says: “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Bg. 9.26)

It is not that God is hungry and comes begging some food. No, Kṛṣṇa is always self-satisfied, and whatever we offer Him is His to begin with. But He wants to set up a reciprocation, an exchange of feelings. He does not ask for an opulent feast—just a little water, a leaf or some fruit, which can be secured by any person under any circumstances. He does not say that He will accept meat, or fish, or eggs, and thus one who wants to satisfy Kṛṣṇa will refrain from offering Him these things. Just simple vegetarian dishes should be offered—the necessary ingredient is love and devotion—and Kṛṣṇa will accept them.

Now one may think, “Well, all this sounds very nice, but one thing is missing. You’re assuming that God eats. But since God is spiritual, not material like us, how can He eat?” This is a good question. Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, of course. But we have to understand what that means. If we try to figure out God on the power of our own intelligence, we may arrive at our idea of God in this way: “Spiritual is just the opposite of material; as we have material bodies which limit us, so God Must be spiritual and unlimited by any body. As I have hands and feet, so God must be without hands and feet: I have eyes, ears, a nose, and a tongue, and God must be eyeless, earless, noseless, tongueless and so on.” Nearly everyone speculates like this, and that’s why so many people have been led to believe that God is impersonal or void. Thus the idea of God’s eating becomes difficult to understand.

But we should consider, first of all, the worth of this speculative process. Since we are limited by our material bodies, how, by means of speculation, are we to have knowledge about an area far beyond the scope of our senses? Since we are enclosed in these material forms, we are conditioned by defective senses, by a propensity for error, by a tendency to be illusioned, and by a propensity to cheat. With these defects we can hardly figure out God. Unless we meet an authority who can give us definite information about God, we cannot know anything about Him. We can only have vague negative ideas. Because we thus stand in need of aid, Kṛṣṇa Himself delivered positive knowledge about Himself to His disciples like Lord Brahmā and Arjuna and arranged to have such knowledge handed down through an unbroken chain of perfect spiritual authorities. We can therefore read in Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, “I am unborn, and My transcendental body never deteriorates.” (Bg. 4.6) He further states that the form which He displayed 5,000 years ago on this earth is His own original and transcendental form—not an assumed material form, like our own. Kṛṣṇa is not embodied; He is not a spiritual spark covered by a material body. Rather, He is His own spiritual form, eternal and always young.

Thus, according to information from the spiritual chain of authority, God is equipped with all senses—sight, touch, taste, smell, etc. But His senses are spiritual. If we think about it, we can understand how this teaching makes much more sense than the impersonal conclusion.

Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth. This means that He is the origin or source of everything; whatever we can experience, spiritual or material, is an emanation from Him. Therefore our own mind, senses and intelligence are all creations of the Absolute Truth. This means that the Absolute Truth is not without mind, senses or intelligence. He is not impersonal. If He were lacking in senses or in intelligence, He would be less than His own creation. The very word “created” indicates that He has transcendental intelligence. Because Kṛṣṇa is a person, we are persons. When a father begets a child, that child is equipped with hands and legs because the father has them. The child also has senses because his father has senses. Therefore sometimes it is said that man is made in the likeness of God. We have senses because Kṛṣṇa, the Original Father, has senses.

But because Kṛṣṇa’s senses are spiritual, they are not limited in the way that ours are limited. In our material body, each sense can only perform its own proper function, but in the transcendental figure of Kṛṣṇa each and every limb possesses in itself the full-fledged functions of all the other organs. Each sense can perform the functions of all the rest. This means that He can walk with His hands, see with His hands, or eat with His eyes. In Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says that He impregnated all living entities into the womb of material nature by His glance. This is the nature of the Lord’s spiritual form. Thus when we offer food to the Lord and he hears our prayers and sees the food on the altar, that seeing and hearing are wholly identical with His eating and enjoying the food. In this way, Kṛṣṇa accepts Our offering and eats it.

The remnants of food offered to Kṛṣṇa are called prasādam. Prasādam means mercy. Kṛṣṇa accepts the offering of food and then returns it to His devotee as His mercy, for Kṛṣṇa Himself becomes the food which was offered to Him. Because the food is in contact with Kṛṣṇa, it becomes spiritualized, Kṛṣṇa-ized. Such food is transcendental, completely free from contact with the modes of goodness, passion and darkness. Prasādam is karma-less food, and anyone who takes Kṛṣṇa prasādam advances in spiritual life. One may try to attain the Supreme by an assault of mental speculation, or by drilling the respiration, etc., but what is so nice and so easy as reaching the supreme destination simply by eating?

Because food offered to Kṛṣṇa is prepared with love and devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is accepted by His mercy after it is offered to Him, no karma attaches itself to the food because nowhere is there any sense gratification or material desire. In preparing, in offering and eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam, a person remains fixed in the transcendental position, absorbed in Brahman, spirit, and undeluded by the modes of nature. Eating in this way is the actual attainment of yoga—“A person is said to have attained to yoga,” Kṛṣṇa says, “when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities.” (Bg. 6.4)

Renunciation is essential for any person serious about spiritual advancement. If a person claims to be engaged in yoga or spiritual development but does not firmly engage in renunciation of fruitive activities and sense gratification, he is a cheater or is being cheated by a cheater. Somehow or other one must prevent the senses from engaging in material activities of sense gratification this is taught by all authorities, including Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus Christ, Śrīpada Śaṅkarācārya, etc.

Once upon a time, many ages ago, a great devotee named Dhruva Mahārāja practiced very severe yoga to realize God in six months. First he ate only fruits and berries every third day, and in the second month he ate dry grass and leaves every sixth day; in this way he progressed to taking only a little water every sixth day, and finally, he was taking a breath of air every twelve days. In this way, Dhruva Mahārāja renounced sense gratification and realized God. Now, in this age, it is impossible for us to practice such severe austerities to control the senses. Who can do it, or even take the first steps? Therefore Kṛṣṇa does not instruct, “Don’t eat.” Rather, He says, “Eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam.” Eat sumptuously, and in that way renounce sense gratification ans fruitive activities.

Any person can prepare, offer and eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam even at home, without inconvenience. Such a wonderful activity is very simple. It is the perfection of eating, and it is “everlasting and joyfully performed.”

There are many scriptural writings present for perusal by intelligent and enlightened men who are able to appreciate the value of authoritative spiritual knowledge. Amongst those fortunate souls who are able to appreciate authoritative information, the question must arise as to which to study. We must first kill the serpent of conditional limitations and fly away from relative terms, for by definition God is the infinite, unlimited Absolute Truth. There are higher and lower principles of truth evident in all endeavors for knowledge, so we must turn ourselves to the complete knowledge of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Although we are obviously finite, we cannot contradictorily impose impotency on the Infinite by charging Him with being unable to reveal Himself to the finite. We necessarily must inspect the various types of information available, with a view toward capturing a grasp on the Absolute Truth.

In the various scriptures there are various indications that God is the most powerful, the supreme creator, the most intelligent, and so forth. The conclusion is that God is the Supreme Entity. In the Sanskrit language He is therefore termed Bhagavān, which means the possessor of all opulence in full—that is, unlimited strength, unlimited intelligence, and unlimited beauty, wealth, fame and renunciation. Without such complete opulence there is no meaning to the nomenclature “God.” With the goal of meeting a complete understanding of the Complete, let us search out the authorized information which delivers that knowledge.

The standard of the scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam fulfills all the requisites of even the most demanding and intelligent inquirer for it is factually the acme of literature for the theistic pursuit. This literature was delivered in response to the need for guidance in self-realization. The endeavor for self-realization necessitates a complete ontology which is properly derived from scriptural sources. One inquiry which prefaces the speaking of the Bhagavatam is the request for a summary exposition of the essence of all scriptures and the various duties known therein. Not only is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the essence of all scriptures, but it is spoken by paramahaṁsas, the most perfect swanlike transcendental lists who are in full knowledge.

The surpassingly excellent attributes of the Bhagavatam are revealed in the second verse of this unrivalled standard for transcendental study. It is therein stated:

“All so-called religiosity covered by fruitive intentions is completely rejected herein.”1

Taken together, religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation summarize the mundane goals. These, however, must be abandoned as pollutions covering the bhāgavata-dharma or the essential function of the soul. By and large, beings of this world are exclusively engaged with these fruitive intentions and are therefore without the qualification to comprehend the highest truth. Therefore the Bhāgavatam rejects these motives in toto as unworthy.

Beyond merely discarding mundane ethos, the Bhāgavatam directs us to the highest goal.

“The highest truth, which is understandable by those who are fully pure in heart, is inculcated herein.”2

These sūtras impress transcendence from their very onset with the aphorism:

“Now [when one is equipped with vast previous preliminary understanding and the facilities of the rare human frame endowed with sufficient intelligence], it is time to inquire about the nature of the Absolute Truth.” 3

“The Absolute Truth is that from which all is emanating, by which all is maintained, and by which all is conserved in its unmanifested state.” 4

The same aphorism, janmādyasya yataḥ, is echoed in Vedavyāsa’s Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, his own bona fide exposition of the Vedānta texts, which are in the form of codes full of great meaning. In dealing with codes, one needs some access or key to understanding, since the compactly concentrated statements imply far more than their apparent simple meanings. Upon inspection, the Vedānta-sūtras give rise to volumes of transcendental indications, and one need only approach the author’s own Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for the complete crystallization of this knowledge. In this work Vedavyāsa benedicts us with a view of all aspects of the Absolute Truth, especially of the original essential feature of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who supports all other features and energies as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Although purely theistic, this topic is completely nonsectarian. The Absolute Truth knows no limit, for it is He from whom everything emanates and who is the cause of all causes and possessor of infinite opulence and energies (both minute and grand). No one can claim an interest separate from the quest of understanding the Absolute Truth Śrī Kṛṣṇa, for all entities and states of existence have their source in Him. Therefore, the intelligent inquirer will recognize that study of the Absolute Truth is the prime function of life. There can be no question of validity in accusations of sectarianism because when one realizes the nature of God as the Absolute Truth from whom all emanates, there is no possibility of relegating Him to a realm of eclipsed thought.

Vedavyāsa states clearly at the beginning of his great Bhāgavatam that the Absolute Truth is known in three features: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti. [Brs. 1.1.11] The feature of Bhagavān or Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is supreme. The other two features—Brahman (impersonal raw effulgence) and Paramātma (all-pervasive Supersoul)—are supported by Him, just as light and heat are inseparably supported by the filament of an incandescent electric bulb. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is thus the summum bonum in the quest for the Absolute Truth.

Although the source and support of all categories of existence, Śrī Kṛṣṇa still remains aloof. In the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam He is described as svarāṭ or fully independent. The understanding of Kṛṣṇa’s position in this matter was bestowed by Kṛṣṇa Himself in His divine appearance as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the guise of His own perfect devotee. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya put forth the sublime doctrine of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, or the inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference of the Lord. As in the example of the light bulb, one cannot separate the energy from the energetic. (There is no meaning to a light without its radiant energy.) Still, the energetic source at the same time remains distinct. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa manifests all varieties of energies, yet He remains the Supreme Transcendental Entity.

The intelligent soul must therefore seek his relationship with the Absolute Truth as his quintessential purpose. However we exist, there are always relationships and functions. We are now encased in gross and subtle forms of matter—specifically, the body, mind and intelligence—but by careful examination we find that we are not the body, for we identify it as our possession (“my” hand, “my” mind, etc.). It is properly owned by the “I,” and there is a distinction between “me” and what is “mine.” We should therefore accept all corporeal functions as corollary to embodiment and thus not at all primary. Although there are many codes prescribed in the Vedic scriptures and elsewhere for the conduct of ordinary activities, they should be executed properly in relation to the Absolute Truth. Similarly, mundane knowledge must also be regarded in the same light.

All duties or essential performances are known as dharma, or sustainers of the living beings. The living beings are described as nitya, eternal,6 and thus possessing sanātana-dharma, an eternal function. As part and parcel of the Absolute Truth,7 all souls are serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa,8 but some, in forgetfulness of their true nature, serve Him only through His external potency, according to their degree of surrender to Him. Yogīs and those who worship the formless Brahman effulgence also appreciate some part of Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa Himself is called paraṁ brahma (the Supreme Spirit), paramātma (the all-pervading Supersoul) and bhagavān (the Supreme Personality of Godhead). Sanātana-dharma is also known as bhāgavata-dharma, or one’s function in relation to Bhagavān, the Supreme Person. Thus all phases of spiritual realization are climaxed by the attainment of bhāgavata-dharma. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the substance of the discrete existence of all categories, mundane and transcendental; thus in all circumstances the ultimate reality underlying all outward manifestations and changes is bhāgavata-dharma, the true subject of predication.

The effect of pursuing the knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is stated:

“The highest truth is described to uproot the threefold miseries for the welfare of everyone.”9

The motive and result are disclosed here as being universal welfare. There are numberless attempts to benefit the public and free them from the miseries of existence, which are described as threefold: (1) miseries inflicted by other living beings, (2) miseries inflicted by natural phenomena (floods, heat and cold, etc.), and (3) miseries due to one’s own self (mental anxieties, old age, etc.). These miseries are inherent in the condition of embodiment and cannot be compromised or surpassed by any amount of planmaking. The solution is to relieve the suffering soul from embodiment by enlightening him to his true nature as part and parcel of God and the Lord’s eternal servitor. By experiencing himself as aloof from the gross and subtle (mental and intellectual) bodies, the suffering soul becomes free from the inescapable miseries of these coverings. This can be perfected even in the embodied state by advancement of transcendental knowledge, which relieves the soul of the false sense of lordship over his bodily designation and its relations and establishes him by degrees in his true position of loving servitorship to the eternal Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Thus, bhakti-yoga or devotional service is clearly the most attractive proposition, surpassing all flickering pleasures of the mundane platform and even the conception of liberation from the material world (which is no more than mere negation of the innate miseries of mundane existence). One situated in transcendental service is already liberated from the woes of false identification, and above that, he experiences the ecstatic mellow taste of loving exchange with the unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead. This service is truly beneficial for universal welfare.

Since all souls are equipped with the facility simply to hear the message of Godhead and advance in transcendental understanding, the foundation of enlightenment is called śravaṇam, or authorized hearing, which is counted as the primary process of the devotional ennead. The application of devotional service is followed causelessly by knowledge and renunciation.10 The ultimate goal must be surrender to the Absolute Truth, and necessarily one must be equipped with bhakti, devotion, and its corollaries, jñāna, knowledge (of the mundane and transcendent natures), and vairāgya, detachment from the mundane platform. All requisites are bestowed simply by authorized hearing of the great literature Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Simply by eager aural reception of Bhāgavatam, the candidate for understanding transcendental knowledge becomes qualified to realize the Absolute Truth to full capacity. If one submits to the Absolute Truth he can know the Absolute Truth. The transmission of the messages of Godhead contains complete transcendental potency by the absolute omnipotency of the Supreme, and by proper association with these messages, the path is cleared for the aspirant. Kṛṣṇa actually becomes the well-wisher of the devotee and vanquishes all inauspiciousness and defectiveness within him. The mood of challenge divorces the defiant soul from any entrance into truth, for the truth stands aloof from challenge or doubt. The sublime and uncomplicated means of success is simply to flood the self with the companionship of the truth, thus annihilating the darkness of ignorance, which is fraught with the agonized writhings of the faithless mind. The prime qualification is to hear conscientiously.

By gaining the standard of purity by the grace of the Lord’s devotees, the soul becomes qualified to comprehend the nature of the Absolute Truth and enter into that nature. When one is no longer diverted by any affinity for the combination of the mundane modes, he is able to fix his mind in undeviating attention on the supermost feature of the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa declares that He is known according to the surrender of the individual,14 but the ability to surrender demands enlightenment gained by service. It is said, as noted previously, that the highest truth is understandable by those who are fully pure in heart, free from all mundane contaminations.15 The purification process must be adopted because the goal is supreme. The means of purification are not unreasonable or artificial impositions, but they simply change one’s association in such a way that his attention is turned to transcendence.

Everyone is engaged in some service by hearing, glorifying, questioning, desiring or other bodily activities, for service is the innate function of the finite living entities. Within the mundane field, however, the eternal living beings are enmeshed in the service of their temporal and ignorant environment (the transitory material body and mind and their relationships). However, by the practice of vaidhi-bhakti-yoga (regulated devotional life), the individual’s function of service is turned to the completely ecstatic activities of loving the eternal Supreme Lord. All beings are attracted by greatness, and thus they serve greatness according to their appreciation. But Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the person of infinite greatness, and when the individual can grasp Kṛṣṇa’s supremacy, he engages in his original pure service. The process is therefore not dry, but is a progressive awakening of the attraction for God that is dormant within all conditioned beings. It is simultaneously simple and sublime; the means are the same as the end, for service to Kṛṣṇa is the so-called practice and also the culmination.16

The most accessible mode of service is simply to hear about Kṛṣṇa’s glories, for thus the natural affinity of the minute souls for the Supreme Soul is invoked:

“As soon as one applies his attentive and submissive aural reception to the message [of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam], he becomes attached to the Supreme Lord at once.”17

“We shall never tire of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Personality of Godhead who is glorified by transcendental prayers. Those who have developed a taste of their transcendental relationship with Him relish hearing of His pastimes at every moment.”18

Thus the natural fully blissful state of the soul (ānanda) can be experienced, undiminished; one need only accept the proper method of receiving Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We therefore humbly beg the reader to seize this most fortunate opportunity by turning his attention to the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which fixes within one’s heart the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

“This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this purāṇa.”19

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—Bhagavad-gītā 9.2