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A self-realized person also sees all living
entities equally. For him, there is no distinction between the higher
and lower species of life. It is also stated that a learned man does not
distinguish between a wise brāhmaṇa and a dog because he sees
the soul within the body, not the external bodily features. Such a
perfected, self-realized person becomes eligible to understand bhakti, or devotional service to the Lord.
Bhakti is so sublime that only through bhakti can one understand the constitutional position of the Lord. That is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.55): bhaktyā mām abhijānāti.
“One can understand the Supreme Lord through devotional service, and by
no other process.” There are different processes of understanding the
Absolute Truth, but if a person wants to understand the Supreme Lord as
He is, he has to take to the process of bhakti-yoga. There are other mystic processes, such as karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, and dhyāna-yoga,
but it is not possible to understand the Supreme Lord, the Personality
of Godhead, except through His devotional service. This is confirmed in
the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (4.3), where we learn that Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna simply because he was the Lord’s devotee and friend. The Bhagavad-gītā teaches the process of bhakti-yoga,
and therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa explained it to Arjuna because he was a great
devotee. As far as spiritual life is concerned, becoming a devotee of
the Lord is the high-est perfection.
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People are generally misled by the spell of the
illusory energy of material nature. There are innumerable living
entities within the material nature, and only some of them are human
beings. According to the Vedic literature, there are 8,400,000 species
of life. In the Padma Purāṇa it is said that there are 900,000
species of life in the water, 2,000,000 species of plants, 1,100,000
species of insects and reptiles, 1,000,000 species of birds, 3,000,000
species of beasts, and only 400,000 species of human beings. So the
humans are the least numerous species of all.
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All living entities can be divided into two
divisions: those that can move and those that are stationary, such as
trees. But there are also many further divisions. Some species fly in
the air, some live in the water, and some live on the ground. Among the
living entities who live on the ground, only 400,000 are human species,
and out of these 400,000 human species, many are uncivilized or unclean;
they are not up to the standard of proper civilization. From the
historical point of view, the Āryans are the most civilized section of
human beings, and among the Āryans, the Indians are especially highly
cultured. And among the Indians, the brāhmaṇas are the most expert in knowledge of the Vedas.
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The Vedic culture is respected all over the world,
and there are people everywhere eager to understand it. The highest
perfectional stage of understanding Vedic culture is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Fifteenth Chapter (15.15), where the Lord says that the purpose of all the Vedas is to understand Him (Lord Kṛṣṇa). Fortunate are those who are attracted to the Vedic cultural life.
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The Hindus call themselves followers of the Vedas. Some say they follow the Sāma Veda, and some say they follow the Ṛg Veda. Different people claim to follow different sections of the Vedas, but in fact for the most part they are not followers of the Vedas because they do not follow the rules and regulations of the Vedas. Therefore Lord Caitanya says that since the so-called followers of the Vedas perform all kinds of sinful activities, the number of actual followers of the Vedas is very small; and even among this small, exclusive number, most are addicted to the processes described in the Vedas’ karma-kāṇḍa section, by which one can elevate oneself to the perfectional stage of economic development.
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The strict followers of the karma-kāṇḍa portions of the Vedas
perform various sacrifices for worship of different demigods in order
to achieve particular material results. Out of many millions of such
worshipers, some may actually engage in the process of understanding the
Supreme, the Absolute Truth. They are called jñānīs. Perfection for a jñānī lies in attaining the stage of brahma-bhūta,
or self-realization. Only after self-realization is attained does the
stage of understanding devotional service begin. The conclusion is that
one can begin the process of devotional service, or bhakti, when
one is actually self-realized. One who is in the bodily concept of
existence cannot understand the process of devotional service.
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It is for this reason that the Nārada-bhakti-sūtra
begins, “Now, therefore, I shall try to explain the process of
devotional service.” The word “therefore” indicates that this process of
devotional service is for the self-realized soul, one who is already
liberated. Similarly, the Vedānta-sūtra begins athāto brahma jijñāsā. The word brahma-jijñāsā
refers to inquiry into the Supreme Absolute Truth, and it is
recommended for those who have been elevated from the lower stage of
addiction to the karma-kāṇḍa portion of the Vedas to the position of interest in the jñāna-kāṇḍa portion.
Only when a person is perfectly situated in the realization that he is
not the body but a spirit soul can he begin the process of bhakti, or devotional service.
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TEXT 2*
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sā tv asmin parama-prema-rūpā
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SYNONYMS
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sā—it; tu—and; asmin—for Him (the Supreme Lord); parama—highest; prema—pure love; rūpā—having as its form.
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TRANSLATION
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Devotional service manifests as the most elevated, pure love for God.
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PURPORT
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As stated before, after attaining the highest stage
of self-realization, one becomes situated in devotional service to the
Lord. The perfection of devotional service is to attain love of God.
Love of God involves the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the devotee,
and the process of devotional service. Self-realization, the brahma-bhūta
stage, is the beginning of spiritual life; it is not the perfectional
stage. If a person understands that he is not his body and that he has
nothing to do with this material world, he becomes free from material
entanglement. But that realization is not the perfectional stage. The
perfectional stage begins with activity in the self-realized position,
and that activity is based on the understanding that a living entity is
eternally the subordinate servitor of the Supreme Lord. Otherwise, there
is no meaning to self-realization. If one is puffed up with the idea
that he is the Supreme Brahman, or that he has become one with Nārāyaṇa,
or that he has merged into the brahmajyoti effulgence, then he has not grasped the perfection of life. As the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32) states,
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ye ’nye ’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ
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Persons who are falsely puffed up, thinking
they have become liberated simply by understanding their constitutional
position as Brahman, or spirit soul, are factually still contaminated.
Their intelligence is impure because they have no understanding of the
Personality of Godhead, and ultimately they fall down from their
puffed-up position.
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According to the Bhāgavatam (1.2.11)
there are three levels of transcendentalists: the self-realized knowers
of the impersonal Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth; the knowers of
the Paramātmā, the localized aspect of the Supreme, which is understood by the process of mystic yoga; and the bhaktas,
who are in knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and engage
in His devotional service. Those who understand simply that the living
being is not matter but spirit soul and who desire to merge into the
Supreme Spirit Soul are in the lowest transcendental position. Above
them are the mystic yogīs, who by meditation see within their
hearts the four-handed Viṣṇu form of the Paramātmā, or Supersoul. But
persons who actually associate with the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, are the
highest among all transcendentalists. In the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (6.47) the Lord confirms this:
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yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yukta-tamo mataḥ
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“And of all yogīs, the one with great
faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders
transcendental loving service to Me—he is the most intimately united
with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.” This is the highest perfectional stage, known as prema, or love of God.
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In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu
(1.4.15–16), Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, a great authority in the devotional
line, describes the different stages in coming to the point of love of
Godhead:
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ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo ’tha bhajana-kriyā
tato ’nārtha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ athāsaktis tato bhāvas tataḥ premābhyudañcati sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
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The first requirement is that one should have sufficient faith that the only process for attaining love of Godhead is bhakti, devotional service to the Lord. Throughout the Bhagavad-gītā
Lord Kṛṣṇa teaches that one should give up all other processes of
self-realization and fully surrender unto Him. That is faith. One who
has full faith in Kṛṣṇa (śraddhā) and surrenders unto Him is eligible for being raised to the level of prema, which Lord Caitanya taught as the highest perfectional stage of human life.
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Some persons are addicted to materially motivated
religion, while others are addicted to economic development, sense
gratification, or the idea of salvation from material existence. But prema,
love of God, is above all these. This highest stage of love is above
mundane religiosity, above economic development, above sense
gratification, and above even liberation, or salvation. Thus love of God
begins with the firm faith that one who engages in full devotional
service has attained perfection in all these processes.
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The next stage in the process of elevation to love of God is sādhu-saṅga,
association with persons already in the highest stage of love of God.
One who avoids such association and simply engages in mental speculation
or so-called meditation cannot be raised to the perfectional platform.
But one who associates with pure devotees or an elevated devotional
society goes to the next stage—bhajana-kriyā, or acceptance of
the regulative principles of worshiping the Supreme Lord. One who
associates with a pure devotee of the Lord naturally accepts that person
as his spiritual master, and when the neophyte devotee accepts a pure
devotee as his spiritual master, the duty of the spiritual master is to
train the neophyte in the principles of regulated devotional service, or
vaidhi-bhakti. At this stage the devotee’s service is based on
his capacity to serve the Lord. The expert spiritual master engages his
followers in work that will gradually develop their consciousness of
service to the Lord. Therefore the preliminary stage of understanding prema,
love of God, is to approach a proper pure devotee, accept him as one’s
spiritual master, and execute regulated devotional service under his
guidance.
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The next stage is called anartha-nivṛtti, in
which all the misgivings of material life are vanquished. A person
gradually reaches this stage by regularly performing the primary
principles of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual
master. There are many bad habits we acquire in the association of
material contamination, chief of which are illicit sexual relationships,
eating animal food, indulging in intoxication, and gambling. The first
thing the expert spiritual master does when he engages his disciple in
regulated devotional service is to instruct him to abstain from these
four principles of sinful life.
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Since God is supremely pure, one cannot rise to the highest perfectional stage of love of God without being purified. In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.12), when Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord, he said, pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān:
“You are the purest of the pure.” The Lord is the purest, and thus
anyone who wants to serve the Supreme Lord must also be pure. Unless a
person is pure, he can neither understand what the Personality of
Godhead is nor engage in His service in love, for devotional service, as
stated before, begins from the point of self-realization, when all
misgivings of materialistic life are vanquished.
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After following the regulative principles and purifying the material senses, one attains the stage of niṣṭhā,
firm faith in the Lord. When a person has attained this stage, no one
can deviate him from the conception of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. No one can persuade him that God is impersonal, without a form,
or that any form created by imagination can be accepted as God. Those
who espouse these more or less nonsensical conceptions of the Supreme
Lord cannot dissuade him from firm faith in the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
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In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa stresses in
many verses that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But despite
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s stressing this point, many so-called scholars and
commentators still deny the personal conception of the Lord. One famous
scholar wrote in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā that one
does not have to surrender to Lord Kṛṣṇa or even accept Him as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, but that one should rather surrender to
“the Supreme within Kṛṣṇa.” Such fools do not know what is within and
what is without. They comment on the Bhagavad-gītā according to
their own whims. Such persons cannot be elevated to the highest stage of
love of Godhead. The may be scholarly, and they may be elevated in
other departments of knowledge, but they are not even neophytes in the
process of attaining the highest stage of perfection, love of Godhead. Niṣṭhā implies that one should accept the words of Bhagavad-gītā, the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as they are, without any deviation or nonsensical commentary.
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If a person is fortunate enough to vanquish all misgivings caused by material existence and rise up to the stage of niṣṭhā, he can then rise to the stages of ruci (taste) and āsakti (attachment for the Lord). Āsakti
is the beginning of love of Godhead. By progressing, one then advances
to the stage of relishing a reciprocal exchange with the Lord in ecstasy
(bhāva). Every living entity is eternally related to the Supreme
Lord, and this relationship may be in any one of many transcendental
humors. At the stage called āsakti, attachment, a person can
understand his relationship with the Supreme Lord. When he understands
his position, he begins reciprocating with the Lord. By constant
reciprocation with the Lord, the devotee is elevated to the highest
stage of love of Godhead, prema.
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