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Prabhupāda
Chapter Twenty-nine
TEXT 1–2
TRANSLATION
Devahūti inquired: "My dear Lord, You have already explained about the symptoms of the total material energy as well as the material nature and the characteristics of the spirit which are very scientifically described according to the sāṅkhya system of philosophy. Now I shall request You to explain to me the path of devotional service, which is the ultimate end of all philosophical system."
PURPORT
In this Twenty-ninth Chapter, the glories of devotional service is elaborately explained, and the influence of time on the conditioned soul is also described. The purpose of describing elaborately about the influence of time is to detach the conditioned soul from his material activities, which are considered to be simply waste of time. Previous chapter the material nature, the spirit and the Supreme Lord or Supersoul are analytically studied. And in this chapter, the principle of bhakti-yoga or devotional service, namely the living entities and the Personality of Godhead, their relationship and to execute function on terms of that eternal relationship is explained. The word yan-mūlaṁ (y-a-n-m-u-l-a-m) expressed in these verses means that bhakti-yoga…, bhakti-yoga or devotional service is the basic principle of all system of philosophy. If there is no aim for attaining devotional service of the Lord, all system of philosophy are considered to be simple mental speculation. Of course, bhakti-yoga without philosophical basis is also more or less mental sentiment. There are two classes of men. One who consider themselves as intellectually advanced, they simply speculate on the matter of the process of meditation, and there are other classes of men who simply go on with sentiments only without any philosophical basis of their proposition. So both these classes of men cannot achieve the highest goal of life, or it will take many, many years to come to the real goal of life. Vedic literature therefore suggests three things—namely that the Supreme Lord, the living entity, their eternal relationship and the goal of life. To follow the principles for executing devotional service is called bhakti, and the ultimate goal to reach to the planet of the Supreme Lord. Full in devotion and love is the ultimate goal of life and to understand the eternal relationship, that living entity is eternally the servitor of the Lord.
Sāṅkhya philosophy means analytical study of the whole thing, and one has to learn everything by scrutinizing the nature and characteristic of such things. That is very good. This is called acquirement of knowledge. Now, if you are simply engaged in the matter of acquirement of knowledge without reaching to the goal of life or the basic principle of acquiring knowledge, bhakti-yoga, if we give up bhakti-yoga and simply are busy in the matter of analytical study of things as they are, then the result is practically nil. It is stated in the Bhāgavatam that it is something like husking the skin of paddy. There is no utilization for beating the skin of the paddy. If paddy is beaten, then the grains, rice, come out. So the basic principle of devotional service to the Lord must be understood scientifically by scientific study of material nature, the living entity and the Supersoul.
TEXT 3
TRANSLATION
Devahūti continued: "My dear Lord, please also describe in detail about the continued process of birth and death both of myself and people in general in this world so that by hearing such calamities of life one may become detached to the activities of this material world."
In this verse...,
PURPORT
In this verse, the word saṁsṛtīḥ is very important (s-a-m-s-r-i-t-i-h). Saṁsṛtiḥ means continued journey on the path of birth and death. And against this word there is another word which is called śreyaḥ-sṛtiḥ (s-r-e-y-a-h s-r-i-t-i-h). Śreyaḥ-sṛtiḥmeans the prosperous path of advancements towards the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and saṁsṛtīḥmeans a continued journey towards the darkest region of material existence. So people without knowing, without any knowledge of this material world and God and himself and their eternal relationship are actually, in the name of progress in material advancement of civilization, they are going to the darkest region of material existence. The darkest region of material existence means to enter into the cycle of different species of life other than human being. The ignorant men, they do not know that after this life one is completely under the grip of material nature and will be offered a life which may not very congenial.
The purport continues. How a living entity gets different kinds of bodies will be explained in the next chapter. But we should know that this continued change of different bodies and birth and death is called saṁsṛtīḥ, and the request of Devahūti to his [her] glorious son, Kapila Muni, to explain about this continued journey is to impress upon the conditioned soul how they are undergoing a path of degradation without understanding the path of bhakti-yoga or devotional service.
TEXT 4
TRANSLATION
"Please also describe about the eternal time which is representation of Your form and on account of whose influence the people in general are engaged in doing something which are known as pious activities."
PURPORT
However one may be ignorant about the path of auspiciousity and the path of gliding down to the darkest region of ignorance, every one of us are aware of the influence of eternal time. The time is devouring all the effects of our material activities. This body is born at a certain time, and immediately the influence of time acts on the body. That means the…, from the date of the birth of this body, the influence of time or death is also attached to it. The advancement of age means the influence of time on the body. If a man is considered that he is fifty years old or forty years old, that means the influence of time has already devoured his duration of life for forty years, fifty years.
So everyone is conscious about the last stage of his life, the cruel hands of death, and some of them who are a little considerate according to the age and circumstances, they take little care of the influence of the time and engage themselves in pious activities so that in future he may not be put into the species of lower grades of animals or lower grades of family. These are some of the consideration of the people in general. Generally they are attached for sense enjoyment and therefore they aspire after life in the heavenly planets after death, and therefore they engage themselves in charitable activities or other pious activities. But actually, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that one cannot get relief from the chain of birth and death even if he goes to the highest planet known as Brahmaloka because the influence of time is everywhere within this material world, but the time factor has no influence in the spiritual world.
TEXT 5
TRANSLATION
"My dear Lord, You are just like the sun to illuminate the…, the darkness of condition of life of the living entities who on account of their eyes of knowledge not being opened are sleeping eternally in that darkness without Your shelter, and therefore falsely they are engaged in the actions and reactions of their material activities and appear to be very fatigued."
PURPORT
It appears that Śrīmatī Devahūti, the glorious mother of Lord Kapiladeva, is very much compassionate on the regrettable condition of the people in general. The people in general without knowing the goal of life are practically sleeping in the darkness of illusion, and it is the general feeling of a Vaiṣṇava or devotee of the Lord to awaken them. Similarly the mother Devahūti is requesting his [her] glorious son to illuminate a light on the life of the conditioned soul so that their most regrettable condition of life may be ended. And the Lord is described herein: yoga-bhāskara. Yoga-bhāskara means the sun of the system of all yoga. And he has..., she has already requested his [her] glorious son to describe about bhakti-yoga. That means the Lord describes the ultimate yoga system as bhakti-yoga, and bhakti-yoga is the sunlike illumination for delivering the conditioned soul. General condition of the people is described here, that they have no eyes to see about their own interest. They do not know that the goal of life is not to aggravate the material necessities of the existence because this body will not exist more than a few number of years. But he is eternal, he has got his eternal necessity. So without caring for the eternal necessities of life, if one is engaged only on the necessities of the body, that sort of civilization or advancement of civilization is resulting in putting the living entities in the darkest region of ignorance. And by sleeping in that darkest region, he is not getting any refreshment but he is gradually become..., becoming fatigued. The word śrāntasya (s-r-a-n-t-a-s-y) is specifically described that he appears to be fatigued. They are inventing so many other processes to make adjustment of this fatigued condition of life, but they are being failed and confused. The only path for mitigating that fatigueness in the struggle for existence is to accept the path of devotional service or the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
TEXT 6
TRANSLATION
Śrī Maitreya said: "Thus being very much compassionate in the words of His glorious mother, the great sage Kapila was very much pleased on the very nice words of His mother, and thus being satisfied, O the best amongst the Kurus, He said as follows."
PURPORT
Lord Kapila became very much satisfied with the request of His glorious mother because she was thinking not only in terms of her personal salvation, but she was thinking in terms of all the fallen conditioned souls. The Lord is always compassionate for the fallen souls of this material world, and therefore He comes Himself to deliver them or He sends His confidential servants to deliver the fallen souls. So He is perpetually compassionate for the fallen souls and as such, if some of His devotee also becomes compassionate to the fallen souls, He becomes very much pleased on such devotee. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said that persons who are trying to elevate the condition of the fallen souls by preaching the last word of the Bhagavad-gītā—namely fully surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead—such persons are very dear to Him. So here when the Lord saw that His beloved mother was very much compassionate on the fallen soul, He became pleased on her and He also became compassionate with her.
TEXT 7
The Lord Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, replied: "My dear noble lady, the path of devotional service are considered multifarious in terms of the different qualities of the executor."
PURPORT
Pure devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is one because in pure devotional service there is no demand from the devotee to be fulfilled by the Lord. Generally people take to devotional service with a purpose. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that people who are not purified take to devotional service with four purposes. A person who is distressed on material condition, if he is a…, is a devotee of the Lord, approaches the Lord for mitigation of his distressed condition. If a person is in need of some money, he also approaches the Lord for asking to get some improvement in monetary condition. And sometimes others who are not in distressed condition or in need of monetary assistance but are seeking knowledge to understand the Absolute Truth, they also take to devotional service. And general inquirer to understand what is the nature of the Supreme Lord, sometimes they also take to devotional service. That is very nicely described in the Bhagavad-gītā [7.16]. Actually the path of devotional service is one without second, but according to the devotees' condition, the devotional service appears to be different and multifarious, as they will be nicely explained in the following verses.
TEXT 8
TRANSLATION
"Devotional service executed by a person who is envious, proud and violent, angry, and separatist is to be considered in the modes of darkness."
PURPORT
It is already stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, that the highest, glorious execution of religiosity is to attain the platform of devotional service without any motive and cause. So real pure devotional service is executed without any motive. The devotee must not have any kind of motive. That is pure devotional service. The only motive should be that he wants to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is not actually motive. That is the...
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That is the real pure condition of the living entity. And in the conditioned stage, when one is engaged in devotional service in full surrender, he should follow the instruction of the bona fide representative of the spiritual master. The spiritual master is the manifested representation of the Supreme Lord because a bona fide spiritual master presents the instruction of the Lord as they are. That is called to present and receive the instruction by disciplic succession. As we have this process described in the Bhagavad-gītā, that the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā should be received by disciplic succession, otherwise there is adulteration. So to act under the direction of such spiritual master and the motive being to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pure devotional service. But as soon as one has motive for personal sense gratification, which are manifested in different ways—that the man is violent, proud, envious, angry and separatist. If one approaches to the Supreme Lord to render devotional service being proud of his personality or being envious to others, just to take revenge on others and in the mode of anger, and he thinks that he is the best devotee and others are not so, in this way if one executes the devotional service it is not pure devotional service; it is called mixed and the lowest grade: tāmasaḥ. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has advised that the Vaiṣṇava who is not of good character should be avoided. A Vaiṣṇava means one who has taken the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, as the ultimate goal of his life. He is to be considered a Vaiṣṇava. But if he is not pure, if he has got still motives, then he is not a Vaiṣṇava of the first order or good character. So to such Vaiṣṇava one may offer his respect because he has accepted the Supreme Lord as the ultimate goal of life, therefore the respect of a Vaiṣṇava should be offered to him, but one should avoid the company of such a low-grade Vaiṣṇava in the modes of ignorance.