Following The Path of Great Soul

2017-08-09 Srimad Bhagavatam 11.03.36(C) - Following The Path of Great Soul (download mp3) by Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty www.iskcondesiretree.com SB 11.3.36naitan mano visati vag uta caksur atma pranendriyani ca yathanalam arcisah svahsabdo ’pi bodhaka-nisedhatayatma-mulam arthoktam aha yad-rte na nisedha-siddhih Translation: Neither the mind nor the faculties of speech, sight, intelligence, the life air or any of the senses are capable of penetrating that Supreme Truth, any more than small sparks can affect the original fire from which they are generated. Not even the authoritative language of the Vedas can perfectly describe the Supreme Truth, since the Vedas themselves disclaim the possibility that the Truth can be expressed by words. But through indirect reference the Vedic sound does serve as evidence of the Supreme Truth, since without the existence of that Supreme Truth the various restrictions found in the Vedas would have no ultimate purpose. Purport: The small sparks generated by a blazing fire have no power to illuminate the original fire, nor can they burn it. The quantity of heat and light in the original fire is always superior to the quantity found in the insignificant sparks. Similarly, the minute living entity is generated from the internal potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as stated in Vedanta-sutra (janmady asya yatah) and Bhagavad-gita (aham sarvasya prabhavah, mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah). The minute living entities, being amsah, or sparks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can never equal the Supreme Godhead in the quantity of their potency. The quantity of knowledge and bliss in the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always superior. Therefore, when a foolish conditioned soul tries to illuminate the subject matter of the highest truth with his tiny brain, he merely illuminates his own foolishness. The Personality of Godhead has personally spoken Bhagavad-gita, which is the blazing fire of perfect knowledge that burns to ashes the insignificant speculations and theories of so-called philosophers and scientists regarding the ultimate truth. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is called Hrsikesa, or the Lord of everyone’s senses. Because the Personality of Godhead has supreme seeing power, hearing power, touching power, smelling power and tasting power, the living entities in a limited sense can also see, hear, touch, smell and taste, by the mercy of Hrsikesa. This idea is expressed in the Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad (4.4.18): pranasya pranam uta caksusas caksur uta srotrasya srotram annasyannam manaso ye mano viduh. “The Supreme Truth is understood to be the life air sustaining everyone’s life air, the vision of everyone’s eyes, the hearing power of the ear, and the sustenance of food itself.” The obvious conclusion is that the Supreme Truth can be known by His own causeless mercy, and not by our foolish attempts to bring the all-pervading truth within the insignificant boundaries of our intelligence. It is stated in the Taittiriya Upanisad (2.4.1), yato vaco nivartante aprapya manasa saha: “The descriptive power of speech fails in the realm of the Supreme Truth, and the speculative power of the mind cannot achieve Him.” But because such statements of Vedic srutis are in themselves descriptions of the Absolute Truth, one may consider such Vedic statements contradictory. Therefore, in this connection it is stated, sabdo ’pi bodhaka-nisedhatayatma-mulam arthoktam aha: although the Vedic sruti (sabda) forbids us to speculate upon the Absolute Truth, such restrictive injunctions indirectly constitute positive assertions of the existence of the supreme living entity. In fact, the Vedic restrictions are meant to save one from the false path of mental speculation and ultimately bring one to the point of devotional surrender. As Lord Krsna Himself states in Bhagavad-gita, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah: by all Vedic literatures the Supreme Personality of God