Shrimad Bhagavatam Canto 1: Creation Chapter 1: Questions by the Sages Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam SB 1.1.1: O my Lord, Sri Krsna, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Sri Krsna because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmaji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Krsna, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth. SB 1.1.2: Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhagavata Purana propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyasadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart. SB 1.1.3: O expert and thoughtful men, relish Srimad-Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Sri Sukadeva Gosvami. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls. CHAITANYA CHARITAMRITA ..................................................................................................... CC Ādi 2.48: Brahmā replied, "What I have said is true. The same Lord Nārāyaṇa who lives on the waters and in the hearts of all living beings is but a plenary portion of You. CC Ādi 2.49: "The Kāraṇodakaśāyī, Garbhodakaśāyī and Kṣīrodakaśāyī forms of Nārāyaṇa all create in cooperation with the material energy. In this way They are attached to māyā. CC Ādi 2.50: "These three Viṣṇus lying in the water are the Supersoul of everything. The Supersoul of all the universes is known as the first puruṣa. CC Ādi 2.51: "Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of the aggregate of living entities, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of each individual living being. CC Ādi 2.52: "Superficially we see that these puruṣas have a relationship with māyā, but above them, in the fourth dimension, is Lord Kṛṣṇa, who has no contact with the material energy. CC Ādi 2.53: "'In the material world the Lord is designated as virāṭ, hiraṇyagarbha and kāraṇa. But beyond these three designations, the Lord is ultimately in the fourth dimension.' CC Ādi 2.54: "Although these three features of the Lord deal directly with the material energy, none of Them are touched by it. They are all beyond illusion. CC Ādi 2.55: "'This is the opulence of the Lord: Although situated in the material nature, He is never affected by the modes of nature. Similarly, those who have surrendered to Him and fixed their intelligence upon Him are not influenced by the modes of nature.' CC Ādi 2.56: "You are the ultimate shelter of these three plenary portions. Thus there is not the slightest doubt that You are the primeval Nārāyaṇa. CC Ādi 2.57: "The source of these three features is the Nārāyaṇa in the spiritual sky. He is Your vilāsa expansion. Therefore You are the ultimate Nārāyaṇa."
Re: Shrimad Bhagavatam, Chaitanya Charitamrta Great passages to quote, and very relevant to the topic at hand. Hare Krishna.
Mr. Hari, you are judging the lord by this scale of superiority and inferiority because you see yourself and other things that way. The scriptures proclaim he is the supreme, but they don't judge him as being superior or inferior to anyone, because they know that He is the source of all of this. Maybe you will understand this, if you ask "where does this superiority come from? and what is this superiority?"
That which is a source; for instance a mother is the source of the child, never the other way around. I don't make any rules, I simply surrender to the most overwhelming evidence with great fear of arriving to quick and imperfect conclusions. Should I speculate, or simply study with an open mind? Show me the scripture! CC Ādi 2.56: "You are the ultimate shelter of these three plenary portions. Thus there is not the slightest doubt that You are the primeval Nārāyaṇa.
I don't know the answer. All I know is this: Narayana is the source of everything, even concepts , hence he is the unknown , there is no way for us to know him by our analogies or descriptions, we just have to surrender to let him disclose himself to us.
I am compelled to agree with that because that is also my well-premeditated concluson based on what all the sages have also concluded, and also all the scriptures declare.
CC Ādi 17.21: "'In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.' CC Ādi 17.22: "In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered. CC Ādi 17.23: "This verse repeats the word 'eva' ['certainly'] three times for emphasis, and it also three times repeats 'harer nāma' ['the holy name of the Lord'], just to make common people understand. CC Ādi 17.24: "The use of the word 'kevala' ['only'] prohibits all other processes, such as the cultivation of knowledge, practice of mystic yoga, or performance of austerities and fruitive activities. CC Ādi 17.25: "This verse clearly states that anyone who accepts any other path cannot be delivered. This is the reason for the triple repetition 'nothing else, nothing else, nothing else,' which emphasizes the real process of self-realization. CC Ādi 17.26: "To chant the holy name always, one should be humbler than the grass in the street and devoid of all desire for personal honor, but one should offer others all respectful obeisances. CC Ādi 17.27: "A devotee engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord should practice forbearance like that of a tree. Even if rebuked or chastised, he should not say anything to others to retaliate. CC Ādi 17.28: "For even if one cuts a tree, it never protests, and even if it is drying up and dying, it does not ask anyone for water. CC Ādi 17.29: "Thus a Vaiṣṇava should not ask anything from anyone else. If someone gives him something without being asked, he should accept it, but if nothing comes, a Vaiṣṇava should be satisfied to eat whatever vegetables and fruits are easily available. CC Ādi 17.30: "One should strictly follow the principle of always chanting the holy name, and one should be satisfied with whatever he gets easily. Such devotional behavior solidly maintains one's devotional service. CC Ādi 17.31: "One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CC Ādi 4.17: [Lord Kṛṣṇa thought:] "All the universe is filled with the conception of My majesty, but love weakened by that sense of majesty does not satisfy Me. CC Ādi 4.18: "If one regards Me as the Supreme Lord and himself as a subordinate, I do not become subservient to his love, nor can it control Me. CC Ādi 4.19: "In whatever transcendental mellow My devotee worships Me, I reciprocate with him. That is My natural behavior. CC Ādi 4.20: "'In whatever way My devotees surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.' CC Ādi 4.21-22: "If one cherishes pure loving devotion to Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him.
Dear Hari, for your own sake, I will repeat myself, quoting my last post, which you clearly did not read, since it explicitly addresses the very point you brought up.
But it depends on which sages and which scriptures you are using. Other sages have reached different conclusions. Other scriptures give different versions. Both Advaitins,Buddhists, Kabbalists and others would probably disagree with the Bhagavatam about the nature of the absolute.
In the Bhagavatam Krishna gives the order of who are the superiors to and he lists himself second only to the Brahmanas. (Read the previous post by me two posts above this one)
But if you look at different scriptures you'll get a different version. There is no objective reason to assume one scripture is right and others incorrect. The idea that god is subordinated to brahmins is absurd - it is simply a device to prop up the whole business of priestcraft.
The books were written at the time that most of the Bramanas were bona-fide, yet one thing the Bhagavatam repeats is the nessesity to consider a true Brahmana as being worthy of worship as God himslef. In fact in some pasasages Krishna says that if you try to worship him directly he does not accept it. But one mustr remeber that a true Brahmana is not one who was born in a family of priests but one who knows God, is a great devotee of God or is truly enlightened.
Hari your view is limited by having read only Bhagavtam and related vaishnava texts. A broader study of the gamut of scriptures might help in forming a deeper understanding.
I have read may of the scriptures but I quote the Bhagavatam because it is the most complete and written by an incarnation of God himself.
Once again, a myth. It dates from the middle ages as do all the puranas. It's equivalent to believing that Moses actually wrote the first books of the Bible.
The only myth here is your unbased thinking. Who wrote the Bhagavatman? can you mention his name before jumping to conclusions?
Yes you right in saying it was a compilation. It is a compilation of all the incaranations of God throughout the ages, and before there was the written word, the stories were passed from father to son in the Brahminical caste. At some point it all had to be compiled and it was too much for an ordinary human to do, so God assumed an incarnation in order to do that, and later on he passed the wholle book to his son, who memorised it all verse by verse.
But I'd better say more. I assume your ideas about the authorship of the Puranas comes from Prabhupada - do correct me if I'm wrong in this. The point anyway is that he was only one guru, and others, for example Sri Aurobindo give a different version. Without doing your own independent research, you are just accepting what you've read from one source, but there is really no reason to assume this source can be relied upon. If I were to say the tale of Noah is literal truth because a fundi preacher had told me, I'd be in a position similar to yours. Traditional religions believe all kinds of nonsense, and really, it is simply a disraction from the true path.
