Perfect Vision by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Guided by a direct vision of the Absolute Truth, the author of the Vedic literature
presented his ultimate contribution to human knowledge.

A lecture in Vrndavana, India, on April 18, 1975

anarthopasamam saksad
bhakti-yogam adhoksaje
lokasyajanato vidvams
cakre satvata-samhitam

"The material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service. But the mass of people do not know this, and therefore the learned Vyasadeva compiled this Vedic literature, which is in relation to the Supreme Truth." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.6)

Knowledge means ultimately to understand the original source of everything. The scientists and philosophers are searching for the original cause. For example, the modern scientists are searching for the original cause of life. That is a good inquiry. But because they are surrounded byanarthas, superfluous things, they cannot know it As long as one is illusioned by maya [the deluding energy], he cannot have perfect knowledge.

Vyasadeva is addressed here as vidvan, full of knowledge. Vyasadeva was unhappy even after compiling Vedanta-sutra. So under the instruction of his guru, Narada Muni, he wanted to compile the last contribution to human society, a commentary on Vedanta-sutra. That is Srimad-Bhagavatam. Vedanta means "the ultimate knowledge." Veda means "knowledge," and anta means "the last contribution."

So under the instruction of Narada Muni, Vyasadeva first of all made his life perfect Because if you write books without being perfect they will not be effective. One has to become perfect before writing books. Nowadays, especially in the Western countries, people write any rascal ideas under the name of philosophy or science. They write, "Perhaps …" or "It may be . . ." That is not the system in Vedic civilization.

In Vedic civilization, only those who are advanced in Vedic knowledge can write. Vedic knowledge is called sruti. And if you write following the principles of sruti. then it is smrti. Srila Rupa Gosvami gives this advice:

sruti-smrti-puranadi-
pancaratra-vidhim vina
aikantiki harer bhaktir
utpatayaiva kalpate

"If you pose yourself as a great devotee of Krsna without reference to the sruti, the smrti, the Puranas, and the Pancaratrika-vidhi, that is simply a disturbance."

When Narada instructed Vyasadeva, "Write something that will help people understand the Supreme," then Vyasadeva engaged himself inbhakti-yoga, devotional service. You cannot understand the Supreme Truth without engaging yourself in devotional service. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita, bhaktya mam abhijanati. Only through devotion, submission, and surrender can you understand Krsna, not by your so-called scholarship or research work. No. Bhaktya mam abhijanati. Krsna never said. "By cultivating speculative knowledge one can understand Me." No.

Therefore Vyasadeva engaged himself in bhakti-yoga to understand the Supreme Truth. That is stated: bhakti-yogena manasi samyak pranihite 'male/ apasyat purusam purnam mayam ca tad-apasrayam. He visioned two things: purusam purnam and maya.

Purusam purnam means the complete or perfect Supreme Personality of Godhead. We are trying to become purusa, or Bhagavan, but we are not perfect. Bhagavan means purna, complete. So we cannot accept anyone as Bhagavan unless he is purna. The complete Supreme Person is Krsna.

By meditation in bhakti-yoga one can understand the Supreme Truth. Real meditation means to try to find out the Supreme Person who is within everyone. That is called yoga, and that yoga is perfect when you see Krsna. Yoga means to try to find Krsna within yourself. Krsna is there, but you have to be qualified to see Him. That is required. That is called bhakti-yoga.

In the Brahma-samhita it is said, premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti. Seeing Krsna is not possible simply by gymnastics. One has to develop transcendental love for Krsna. When your eyes are anointed with love of God, then you can see Him within yourself twenty-four hours a day.

That is not difficult to understand. If you love someone, you always think of him; you always feel his presence. So the same is true of love for Krsna. Therefore Krsna is teaching how to develop this love for Him. He says,man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru: "Simply think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer obeisances to Me."

We are spending so much money for installing the Deities of Krsna-Balarama here. What is the purpose? The purpose is that you will be able to see Them present in this temple and therefore you can think of Them. That is very natural. If you see the Deity always, then you get His picture impressed within your mind; you will always think of Him. And the Deity is not different from Krsna. For a devotee, the Deity is Krsna Himself, identical.

We are spending so much money not for worshiping a statue. That would not be very intelligent. The Deity is directly Krsna. Therefore the temple is a sanctified place. If you follow the process of seeing the Deity regularly, your mind will be cleansed. When the mind is cleansed of all dirty things, then you can think of Krsna.

So Vyasadeva first of all made his life perfect by practicing bhakti-yoga, and then he wrote this Srimad-Bhagavatam. Therefore you will find that in Srimad-Bhagavatam each word is transcendental. Each word is full of meaning and transcendental knowledge, because the writer of this transcendental book is Vyasadeva, and he is perfect He is known as Veda-vyasa, "perfect in Vedic knowledge."

Vyasadeva saw the complete Supreme Personality of Godhead. And he also saw maya. Mayam catad-apasrayam. Maya was behind Him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, has maya's [energies] of different kinds because He has to execute so many affairs in both the material world and the spiritual world. Just imagine! The universes are so big, and there are innumerable universes. In each universe there are innumerable planets. In each planet there are innumerable towns and cities. In each town there are innumerable living entities. And Krsna has to manage all of them. That is Krsna. Therefore He is called Paramesvara, "the supreme controller." And Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisthah: "I am living in everyone's heart."

Krsna has to act in such a way that whatever we are doing is under His direction. For example, Krsna says mattah smrtih: "From Me comes remembrance." In the morning you get up. and immediately you understand that you were sleeping and that now you have to do so many things. So where has this memory come from? Krsna says, mattah: "From Me." Just imagine how busy Krsna is!

So the maya that is controlling the material world was seen by Vyasadeva. Srimati Radharani is also maya. She is yoga-maya. And Durga is maya. She is an expansion of Radharani. But Durga's business is different from Radharani's business. Durga's business is to keep the living entities covered so that they don't awaken to Krsna consciousness. That is her duty.

Vyasadeva saw the Supreme Person, and he saw maya behind the Supreme Person. Which maya? Yaya sammohito jiva that maya which is keeping the living entities in illusion. What is that illusion? Under the influence of maya, we are identifying with the different gunas, or qualities of this material world: goodness [sattva-guna], passion [rajo-guna], and ignorance [tamo-guna]. Sattva-guna is the brahminical qualification. Someone is thinking. "I am a brahmana." Someone under the control ofrajo-guna is thinking, "I am ksatriya." This misidentification is all over the world. You may not think, "I am a brahmana," but you may think, "I am an American." Or I may think I am an Indian. There is some sort of identification. Therefore the whole world is full of anarthas, unnecessary things. I am not a brahmana; I am not Indian; you are not American; you are not a ksatriya. These are all false identifications.

This misidentification is the work of maya. All living entities are under certain impressions: "I am this"; "I am that." And based on "I am this"; "I am that," they cannot make any solutions to the problems of life. The leaders have created the United Nations, but there are no solutions. Why? Because everyone is under the grip of maya, the material energy, and they are simply creating problems. This is their business.

I am spirit soul, and I do not belong to these material qualities. Still I am thinking that I am a product of the material nature. One cannot go beyond these three gunas: sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna, or mixed. There are 8,400,000 species of living entities under the impression that "I am a dog"; "I am a plant"; "I am a fish"; "I am a mosquito"; "I am a man"; "I am a demigod"; "I am a tiger"; "I am an Indian"; "I am an American." In this way there are 8,400,000 different types of identification. Therefore we find so many forms of life. This is all the work of maya to keep us under a certain impression. And we work under a certain impression and create another situation. Then we get another body.

If in this life I create a situation like a dog's, then in my next life I will get the body of a dog. that's all. Or if I create a situation like the demigods', then I can go to the heavenly planets. But if I create a situation as an eternal servant of Krsna, they I go to Krsna. This is wanted. This is the purpose of the Krsna consciousness movement. Don't create a situation that "I am this." "I am that." Simply create this situation: "I completely understand that I have no other business than to advance in Krsna consciousness and that my only duty is to serve Krsna." This is wanted.

How one can attain this position is described in today's verse:anarthopasamam saksad bhakti-yogam adhoksaje. This is the remedy: all unnecessary things can be removed by devotional service to the Supreme Lord.

But as long as I think. "I am this," "I am that," then I am still in illusion. Thinking "I am a big gosvami or "I am a big brahmana" is also ananartha. The actual gosvami is one who has control over his senses. We have to control our senses and properly identify ourselves. We should think, "I do not belong to anything of this material infection, but I am an eternal servant of Krsna." That is called self-realization or mukti.

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the definition of mukti has been given:muktir hitvanyatha rupam sva-rupena vyavasthitih. Anyatha rupammeans that I identify myself as this and that: "I am American"; "I am Indian"; "I am a brahmana"; "I am a gosvami." No. These are all anartha, unwanted. We are living under the wrong impression. Therefore it is said,hitvanyatha rupam "giving up the wrong impression." And sva-rupena vyavasthitih means "situated in one's original position." That is calledmukti. Mukti does not mean anything else. This is the definition of mukti. You keep yourself in your original position.

So our original position is that we are part and parcel of the body of Krsna. The brahmana is the mouth of Krsna, and the ksatriyas are the arms of Krsna. The vaisyas are the abdomen of Krsna, and the sudras are the legs of Krsna. Therefore nobody should be hated. Krsna is advaya, absolute. Ordinarily we may make some distinction between the head and the leg. The leg is less important; the head is more important. But any part of Krsna is as important as any other part. So if you come to realize that you are part and parcel of Krsna, then whether you act as Krsna's leg or as Krsna's head, there is no difference.

Here in the material world we have misunderstood that because I am the head [brahmana], therefore I shall hate the legs [sudras]. But why should we think like that? We first of all offer tulasi and flowers to the legs of Krsna, not to the head. Bhakti-yoga begins from the lotus feet of Krsna. So how can you say that Krsna's legs are inferior to His head? Such a misunderstanding is called an anartha.

If we enter into the process of bhakti-yoga, these anarthas will go away. Therefore it is recommended here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam,anarthopasamam saksad bhakti-yogam adhoksaje: if you engage yourself in transcendental loving service of Adhoksaja, the Supreme Person who is beyond your sense perception, your anarthas will be finished.

When your anarthas are finished and you see every living entity as part and parcel of Krsna, that is called real Brahman realization. Every one of us is part and parcel of Krsna. So we should engage not only ourselves in Krsna's service, but we should try to engage others also, because they are also part and parcel of Krsna. Why should we exclude them? That is Vaisnavism. That is Krsna consciousness. And that is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission.

That mission is to be started from India. Indians especially have the opportunity to learn these Vedic sastras (scriptures), become self-realized, and introduce this Krsna consciousness throughout the world. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission.

So every Vaisnava's duty is to make his life perfect by understanding his real position and then to preach. All people throughout the whole world areajanatah. Ajanatah means that they do not know anything. They are proud, and they think that having some material advancement of life is perfection. No, that is not perfection. Perfection is muktir. . . sva-rupena vyavasthitih to be situated in one's own original position.

That can be done anywhere. Bhakti-yoga can be practiced in any part of the world, as we have experienced practically. What is bhakti-yoga? The first business is sravanam: you can hear. Hear about whom? Visnu. Not nonsense talks. You must hear about Krsna. You can hear anywhere. There is no specific mention that it can be heard in such and such place. You can hear anywhere. But in a holy place like Vrndavana, the hearing has a special effect.

So here we are establishing this temple. and you foreigners have taken some interest. I am very much pleased. So constantly come to the temple and hear about Krsna. Make your anarthas vanquish.

Nowadays everything that is being done is anartha, without meaning. But if we say this, people will criticize us "Why are you using motorcars? Why are you using airplanes?" But our tactic is that we can use any so-called anartha in the service of Krsna. People have created some anartha, but we can engage even this anartha in the service of Krsna and make it meaningful. That is our business.

So it requires time to clear the anarthas. We are encumbered with so many unnecessary things. By bhakti-yoga our so-called necessities of life will decrease. Anarthopasamam. Although we are riding in motorcars, we don't think they are essential. But those who are captured by the present civilization, they think motorcars are essential. That is the difference.

Our process is that because we have to go to the United States to preach, why should we not take the airplane? Why should we waste our time? So we don't deprecate material advancement But we simply warn that you don't forget Krsna simply for the matter of material advancement. This is Krsna consciousness. We don't discourage you, but when you have invented something material, utilize it for Krsna. Don't be attached to the motorcar. But utilize it for going fast for preaching work, that's all. This is required.

This is Rupa Gosvami's advice. Don't die for want of a motorcar. But if you get the opportunity to go faster than walking, you should utilize it. This is required. Everything should be engaged in Krsna's service. That is calledyukta-vairagya.

It is different from phalgu-vairagya, which means to think that because something is material, therefore it is false and must be rejected. No. It has some relationship with Krsna. That is to be seen.

What is this motorcar? Is it material? Where have they gotten this metal, iron, wood everything? They have gotten it from Krsna. Therefore it has a relationship with Krsna. And when it is manufactured, use it for Krsna. That is yukta-vairagya. So we do not hate any products of material advancement. We can utilize everything for Krsna's service. Our only preaching is "Don't forget Krsna." That is our business. And if you have got a special talent, utilize it for Krsna.

So if you take to bhakti-yogam adhoksaje, the anarthas, the things that are not wanted, or the problems of the world, will be mitigated. People do not know this. Therefore we have to teach them. That is the purpose of the Krsna consciousness movement

Thank you very much.

CHANT HARE KRISHNA MAHA MANTRA 

AND ALWAYS BE HAPPY