Our present body is not sac-cid-ānanda. It is asat, not sat. It is not eternal; it is perishable. It is not cit, full of knowledge, but it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, nor do we even have perfect knowledge of this material world, where there are so many things unknown to us. The body is also nirānanda; instead of being full of bliss it is full of misery. All of the miseries we experience in the material world arise from the body, but one who leaves this body thinking of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, at once attains a sac-cid-ānanda body.
Full of bliss
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Preface and Introduction
BG Chapters 7 - 12
He who has not attained perfection of knowledge, as indicated in the Vedānta-sūtra (janmādy asya yataḥ), or, in other words, he who fails to understand Kṛṣṇa, the cause of all causes, becomes baffled about achieving the ultimate goal of life and is thus subjected to the routine of being promoted to the higher planets and then again coming down, as if situated on a Ferris wheel which sometimes goes up and sometimes comes down. The purport is that instead of being elevated to the spiritual world, from which there is no longer any possibility of coming down, one simply revolves in the cycle of birth and death on higher and lower planetary systems. One should better take to the spiritual world to enjoy an eternal life full of bliss and knowledge and never return to this miserable material existence.
Here the Lord indirectly says that if anyone wants to know the Absolute Truth, "Here I am present as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am the Supreme." One should know this. Although one cannot understand the inconceivable Lord who is personally present, He nonetheless exists. We can actually understand Kṛṣṇa, who is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, simply by studying His words in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons who are in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position.
In Bhagavad-gītā (9.11) it is also confirmed, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ: He is not visible to the foolish persons who deride Him. Kṛṣṇa's body, as confirmed by Brahma-saṁhitā and confirmed by Kṛṣṇa Himself in Bhagavad-gītā, is completely spiritual and full of bliss and eternality. His body is never like a material body. But for some who make a study of Kṛṣṇa by reading Bhagavad-gītā or similar Vedic scriptures, Kṛṣṇa is a problem. For one using a material process, Kṛṣṇa is considered to be a great historical personality and very learned philosopher, but He is an ordinary man, and even though He was so powerful He had to accept a material body.
BG Chapters 13 - 18
A living entity appears to be born because of the birth of the material body, but actually the living entity is eternal; he is not born, and in spite of his being situated in a material body, he is transcendental and eternal. Thus he cannot be destroyed. By nature he is full of bliss. He does not engage himself in any material activities; therefore the activities performed due to his contact with material bodies do not entangle him.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
The material creations are manifested for some time as perverted shadows of the spiritual kingdom and can be likened to cinemas. They attract people of less intelligent caliber who are attracted by false things. Such foolish men have no information of the reality, and they take it for granted that the false material manifestation is the all in all. But more intelligent men guided by sages like Vyāsa and Nārada know that the eternal kingdom of God is more delightful, larger, and eternally full of bliss and knowledge. Those who are not conversant with the activities of the Lord and His transcendental realm are sometimes favored by the Lord in His adventures as incarnations wherein He displays the eternal bliss of His association in the transcendental realm.
The personal form of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is so attractive that it comprehends all attraction, all bliss and all tastes (rasas). These attractions are so strong that no one wants to exchange them for material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation. There is no need of logical arguments in support of this statement, but out of one's own nature one becomes attracted by the qualities of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We must know for certain that the qualities of the Lord have nothing to do with mundane qualities. All of them are full of bliss, knowledge and eternity. There are innumerable qualities of the Lord, and one is attracted by one quality while another is attracted by another.
Darkness is a perverse representation of the sun, and therefore the existence of darkness depends on the existence of the sun, but in the sun proper there is no trace of darkness. As the sun is full of light only, similarly the Absolute Personality of Godhead, beyond the material existence, is full of bliss. He is not only full of bliss, but also full of transcendental variegatedness. Transcendence is not at all static, but full of dynamic variegatedness. He is distinct from the material nature, which is complicated by the three modes of material nature. He is parama, or the chief. Therefore He is absolute. He has manifold energies, and through His diverse energies He creates, manifests, maintains and destroys the material world.
This material world is certified by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gītā as a dangerous place full of calamities. Less intelligent persons prepare plans to adjust to those calamities without knowing that the nature of this place is itself full of calamities. They have no information of the abode of the Lord, which is full of bliss and without trace of calamity. The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life.
As we have already explained in the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, He is completely independent to act however He likes, but all His actions are full of bliss, knowledge and eternity. Only the foolish mundaners misunderstand Him, unaware of His eternal form of knowledge and bliss, which is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Upaniṣads. His different potencies work in a perfect plan of natural sequence, and doing everything by the agency of His different potencies, He remains eternally the supreme independent.
SB Canto 2
One can increase the duration of life to thousands and hundreds of thousands of years in different planets, but nowhere is there eternal life. But one who can reach the highest planet, that of Brahmā, can aspire to reach the planets in the spiritual sky, where life is eternal. Therefore, the progressive journey from one planet to another culminates in reaching the supreme planet of the Lord (mad-dhāma), where life is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. All different kinds of sacrifice are performed just to satisfy Lord Nārāyaṇa with a view to reach Him, and the best sacrifice recommended in this age of Kali is saṅkīrtana-yajña, the mainstay of the devotional service of a nārāyaṇa-para devotee.
This distinguishes the Lord from the individual, common living entities who have the aptitude for being subordinated by nescience and thus becoming materially designated. In the Vedas it is said that the Lord is vijñānam ānandam, full of bliss and knowledge. The conditioned souls are never to be compared to Him because such individual souls have the tendency to become contaminated. Although after liberation the living entity can become one with the same quality of existence as the Lord, his very tendency to become contaminated, which the Lord never has, makes the individual living entity different from the Lord.
The form of the Lord manifested before Brahmā is not one of the forms with which we have experience in the material world. Brahmājī did not perform such severe types of penance just to see a form of material production. Therefore the question by Mahārāja Parīkṣit about the form of the Lord is answered. The form of the Lord is sac-cid-ānanda (Bs. 5.1), or eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. But the material form of the living being is neither eternal, nor full of knowledge, nor blissful. That is the distinction between the form of the Lord and that of the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul, however, can regain his form of eternal knowledge and bliss simply by seeing the Lord by means of bhakti-yoga.
SB Canto 3
The Lord's body is blackish, but is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, and very, very beautiful. His eyes are always peaceful, and they are reddish like the rising morning sun. I could immediately recognize Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His four hands, different symbolic representations, and yellow silk garments.
He is a plenary portion of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thus although He is nondifferent from Lord Kṛṣṇa, His formal appearance in the material world as an incarnation is temporary. The original form of the Personality of Godhead is actually the svarūpa, or real form, and He eternally resides in the Vaikuṇṭha world (Viṣṇuloka). The word mahātmanaḥ is used here to indicate Mahā-Viṣṇu, and His real manifestation is Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is called parama, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā:
- īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
- anādir ādir govindaḥ
- sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
- (Bs. 5.1)
"The Supreme Lord is Kṛṣṇa, the original Personality of Godhead known as Govinda. His form is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, and He is the original cause of all causes."
Everyone knew that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, yet His behavior was exemplary. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1); His form is completely spiritual, full of bliss and knowledge, and it is eternal. Because the living entities are His parts and parcels, originally they also belong to the same quality of eternal form as the Lord, but when they come in contact with māyā, the material potency, due to their forgetfulness their existential constitution is covered.
The spirit soul is actually sac-cid-ānanda (Bs. 5.1)—eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Under the clutches of māyā, however, he suffers from continued birth, death, disease and old age. One has to be serious to cure this condition of material existence and transfer himself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for thus his long suffering may be mitigated without difficulty. In summary, the suffering of the conditioned soul is due to his attachment to material nature. This attachment should thus be transferred from matter to Kṛṣṇa.
SB Canto 4
The difference between the pleasure and pain of this material world and that of the spiritual world is that in the spiritual world the effect is qualitatively absolute. Therefore one may feel sorry in the absolute world, but the manifestation of so-called pain is always full of bliss. For instance, once Lord Kṛṣṇa, in His childhood, was chastised by His mother, Yaśodā, and Lord Kṛṣṇa cried. But although He shed tears from His eyes, this is not to be considered a reaction of the mode of ignorance, for the incident was full of transcendental pleasure. When Kṛṣṇa was playing in so many ways, sometimes it appeared that He caused distress to the gopīs, but actually such dealings were full of transcendental bliss.
The more one makes advancement in devotional service, the more one becomes detached from material opulence and material activity. This is the spiritual nature, full of bliss. This is also described in Bhagavad-gītā (2.59). Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate: one ceases to take part in material enjoyment upon tasting superior, blissful life in spiritual existence. By advancement in spiritual knowledge, which is considered to be like blazing fire, all material desires are burned to ashes. The perfection of mystic yoga is possible when one is continuously in connection with the Supreme Personality of Godhead by discharging devotional service. A devotee is always thinking of the Supreme Person at every step of his life.
SB Canto 6
Another class of men cannot ascertain what the actual form of the Supreme is, but they agree that there is a Supreme who controls the activities of the ordinary living being. Such philosophers are accepted as mediocre. The best, however. are those who understand the Supreme Lord (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)). Pūrṇānandādi-guṇakaṁ sarva jīva-vilakṣaṇam: His form is completely spiritual, full of bliss, and completely distinct from that of the conditioned soul or any other living entity. Uttamās tu hariṁ prāhus tāratamyena teṣu ca: such philosophers are the best because they know that the Supreme Personality of Godhead reveals Himself differently to worshipers in various modes of material nature.
SB Canto 7
(8) Sakhyam. In regard to worshiping the Lord as a friend, the Agastya-saṁhitā states that a devotee engaged in performing devotional service by śravaṇam and kīrtanam sometimes wants to see the Lord personally, and for this purpose he resides in the temple. Elsewhere there is this statement: "O my Lord, Supreme Personality and eternal friend, although You are full of bliss and knowledge, You have become the friend of the residents of Vṛndāvana. How fortunate are these devotees!" In this statement the word "friend" is specifically used to indicate intense love. Friendship, therefore, is better than servitude. In the stage above dāsya-rasa, the devotee accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a friend. This is not at all astonishing, for when a devotee is pure in heart the opulence of his worship of the Deity diminishes as spontaneous love for the Personality of Godhead is manifested.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
You are original because all Your forms as incarnations are outside of this material creation. Your form was existing before this cosmic manifestation was created. Your forms are eternal and all-pervading. They are self-effulgent, changeless and uncontaminated by the material qualities. Such eternal forms are ever-cognizant and full of bliss; they are situated in transcendental goodness and are always engaged in different pastimes. You are not limited to a particular form only; all such transcendental, eternal forms are self-sufficient. I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu." We may conclude, therefore, that Lord Viṣṇu is everything, although He is also different from everything. This is the acintya-bhedābheda-tattva philosophy.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
The word "aṅga" indeed refers to plenary portions. Such manifestations should never be considered products of material nature, for they are all transcendental, full of knowledge and full of bliss.
In the material world, if a fragment is taken from an original object, the original object is reduced by the removal of that fragment. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not at all affected by the actions of māyā.
Lord Kṛṣṇa's body is eternal (sat), full of knowledge (cit) and full of bliss (ānanda). His one spiritual energy manifests three forms.
Śaṅkarācārya says (sūtra 42) that devotees think the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, to be one, to be free from material qualities and to have a transcendental body full of bliss and eternal existence. He is the ultimate goal of the devotees, who believe that the Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself into four other eternal transcendental forms—Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. From Vāsudeva, who is the primary expansion, come Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha in that order. Another name of Vāsudeva is Paramātmā, another name of Saṅkarṣaṇa is jīva (the living entity), another name of Pradyumna is mind, and another name of Aniruddha is ahaṅkāra (false ego).
Sometimes scientists argue that matter and spirit are one, with no difference between them. Factually, in a higher sense, there is no difference between matter and spirit, but one should have the practical knowledge that matter, being an inferior state of existence, is useless for our spiritual, blissful life, whereas spirit, being a finer state, is full of bliss. In this connection the Bhāgavatam gives the example that dirt and fire are practically one and the same. From the earth grow trees, and from their wood come fire and smoke. Nevertheless, for heat we can utilize the fire but not the earth, smoke or wood. Therefore, for the ultimate realization of the goal of life, we are concerned with the fire of the spirit, not the dull wood or earth of matter.
CC Madhya-lila
“The transcendental body of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. He is the son of Nanda Mahārāja. He is full of all opulences and potencies, as well as all spiritual mellows.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “Sītādevī, the dearmost wife of the Supreme Lord Rāmacandra, certainly has a spiritual form full of bliss. No one can see her with material eyes, for no materialist has such power.
“Kṛṣṇa's holy name, transcendental qualities and transcendental pastimes are all equal to Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. They are all spiritual and full of bliss.
“The mellows of Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, which are full of bliss, attract the jñānī from the pleasure of Brahman realization and conquer him.
When one understands that he belongs not to the material world but to the spiritual world, one is called liberated. Being situated in the spiritual world is certainly pleasurable, but those who realize the transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa enjoy transcendental bliss many times more than one who has simply realized the self. When one is situated on the platform of self-realization, he can certainly be easily attracted by Kṛṣṇa and become a servant of the Lord.
“The Māyāvādīs do not recognize the personal form of the Lord as spiritual and full of bliss. This is a great sin. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's statements are actually factual.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement especially aims at defeating the Māyāvāda conclusion about the Absolute Truth. Since the members of the Māyāvāda school cannot understand the spiritual form of the Lord, they incorrectly think the Lord's form is also made of material energy.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Lord Caitanya then described the different features of Kṛṣṇa and requested that Sanātana Gosvāmī listen attentively. He then informed him that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, is the Absolute Supreme Truth, the cause of all causes and the origin of all emanations and incarnations. Yet in Vraja, or Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is just like a young boy and is the son of Nanda Mahārāja. His form, however, is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge absolute. He is both the shelter of everything and the proprietor as well.
The Purāṇas are called supplementary Vedic literatures. Because sometimes in the original Vedas the subject matter is too difficult for the common man to understand, the Purāṇas explain matters simply by the use of stories and historical incidents. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.32) it is stated that Mahārāja Nanda and the cowherd men and inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are very fortunate because the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead, full of bliss, engages in His eternal pastimes as their friend.
Easy Journey to Other Planets
The duration of life on certain material planets may be very long, but all living entities in the material universe are eventually subject to annihilation and have to again develop other bodies. There are different types of bodies. A human body exists one hundred years, whereas an insect body may exist for twelve hours. Thus the duration of these different bodies is relative. If one enters the planet called Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the spiritual planet. however, he then achieves eternal life, full of bliss and knowledge. A human being can attain that perfection if he tries. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā when the Lord says, "Anyone who knows in truth about the Supreme Personality of Godhead can attain to My nature."
As stated in our pamphlet Kṛṣṇa, the Reservoir of Pleasure, if we transfer ourselves to the spiritual world, to Kṛṣṇa's planet or to any other spiritual planet, then we will get a body similar to God's: sac-cid-ānanda—eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. So those who try to be Kṛṣṇa conscious have a different aim of life than those who are trying to promote themselves to the better planets in this material world. Lord Kṛṣṇa says, mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām: "The perfection of yoga is to transfer oneself to the spiritual world." (BG 8.12)
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
“Dear Lord, husband of the goddess of fortune, devotees who are dovetailed in Your service do not fall down from their high position like the impersonalists. Being protected by You, the devotees are able to traverse over the heads of many of Māyā’s commanders in chief, who can always put stumbling blocks on the path of liberation. Dear Lord, You appear in Your eternal transcendental form for the benefit of the living entities so that they can see You face to face and offer their worshipful sacrifices by ritualistic performance of the Vedas, mystic meditation and devotional service as recommended in the scriptures. Dear Lord, if You did not appear in Your eternal transcendental form, full of bliss and knowledge—a form which can eradicate all kinds of speculative ignorance about Your position—then all people would simply speculate about You according to their respective modes of material nature.”
You are original because all Your forms as incarnations are outside of this material creation. Your form was existing before this cosmic manifestation was created. Your forms are eternal and all-pervading. They are self-effulgent, changeless and uncontaminated by the material qualities. Such eternal forms are evercognizant and full of bliss; they are situated in transcendental goodness and are always engaged in different pastimes. You are not limited to a particular form only; all such transcendental, eternal forms are self-sufficient. I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu.
No one can estimate how You have expanded Your yogamāyā and Your incarnations and how You act by Your transcendental energy. My dear Lord, this whole cosmic manifestation is just like a flashing dream, and its temporary existence simply disturbs the mind. As a result, we are full of anxiety in this existence; to live within this material world means simply to suffer and to be full of all miseries. And yet this temporary existence of the material world appears to be pleasing and dear on account of its having evolved from Your body, which is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge.
“Because You are the original person, You are described in the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad, as well as in the Brahma-saṁhitā, as govindam ādi-puruṣam. Govinda is the original person, the cause of all causes. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated that You are the source of the Brahman effulgence. No one should conclude that Your body is like an ordinary material body. Your body is akṣara, indestructible. The material body is always full of threefold miseries, but Your body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha: (Bs. 5.1) full of bliss, knowledge and eternality. You are also nirañjana because Your pastimes, as the little son of mother Yaśodā or the lover of the gopīs, are never contaminated by the material qualities.
“My dear Lord, it is known to us that You are so kind and liberal that when a person leaves everything just to engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, You sometimes give Yourself in exchange for that unalloyed service. You have appeared in the Yadu dynasty to fulfill Your mission of reclaiming all conditioned souls rotting in the sinful activities of material existence, and this appearance is already famous all over the world. My dear Lord, You are the ocean of unlimited mercy, love and affection. Your transcendental form is full of bliss, knowledge and eternity. You can attract everyone's heart by Your beautiful form as Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
The Lord's holy name, His form, and His personality are all one and the same. There is no difference between them. Since all of them are absolute, they are transcendentally blissful. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's body and Himself or between His name and Himself. As far as the conditioned soul is concerned, everything is different. One's name is different from the body, from one's original form and so on. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa, His body, and His pastimes cannot be understood by blunt material senses. They are manifest independently. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa, His transcendental qualities and pastimes, as well as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself are all equal. They are all spiritual and full of bliss.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
As we have described above, that the Supreme Lord is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). He has His form, but His form is eternal, sat; and full of knowledge, cit; and full of bliss, ānanda. Now just we can compare our present body, whether this body is sac-cid-ānanda. No. This body is asat. Instead of being sat it is asat. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18), Bhagavad-gītā says that this body is antavat, perishable. And... Sac-cid-ānanda. Instead of becoming sat, it is asat, just the opposite. And instead of becoming cit, full of knowledge, it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, neither we have got any perfect knowledge of this material world. So many things unknown to us, therefore this body is ignorant. Instead of becoming full of knowledge it is ignorant. The body is perishable, full of ignorance, and nirānanda. Instead of becoming full of bliss, it is full of miseries.
Therefore, we have to select guru. Guru means Kṛṣṇa. As Arjuna has selected guru, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "I am, I become Your śiṣya, disciple, and I surrender unto You." So to get perfect knowledge, we have to find out Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's bona fide representative. Then there is perfect knowledge. Then we can become immortal. Unless we get perfect knowledge. So Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), immortal. Kṛṣṇa is full of bliss, full of knowledge, and we are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. So we have also the same quality, sac-cid-ānanda, the spiritual body. But because we have contacted this material nature, our blissfulness, our eternity, our knowledge, everything is now disturbed. Everything is now disturbed. We cannot be completely blissful.
So we can also become like Kṛṣṇa along with Kṛṣṇa. Not outside. We can be living force along with Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is also very much anxious to take us back to Him. Therefore He comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata abhyutthānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). When these rascals forget that unless he goes back to home, goes back to Kṛṣṇa he'll never be happy, that is the discrepancy of occupational duty. They have come here, kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare (Prema-vivarta), he has come here to enjoy, to lord it over the material nature, and has become entangled. So Kṛṣṇa comes, descends, to save us, to give us shelter at His lotus feet so that we may also become immortal like Kṛṣṇa, full of bliss and full of knowledge. That is called amṛtatva.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja said "People do not know the aim of life." The aim of life is here, amṛtatva, as good as Kṛṣṇa, as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Blissful, full of knowledge and eternal. That is the aim of life. But people do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). Viṣṇu means the Supreme Lord who is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. So our aim should be how to approach Viṣṇu. Then we get the same power, same eternity, same blissfulness. Just like a motorcar is running at the speed of sixty miles, and if a cyclist someway or other catches the motorcar, he can also go at the speed of sixty miles. Sometimes boys do that.
That is explained in another place of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, bahavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ, like that. Means that "Many persons, by cultivating knowledge and tapasya, jñāna-tapasā, pūtāḥ, became purified. They have got the same status like Me." The same status means God is eternal, God is full of knowledge and God is full of bliss.
So we are all part and parcel of God. We are part and parcel of God; therefore we have got the same quality just like a particle of gold has got the same quality as the big gold, and the small drop of sea water has got the same chemical composition as the large mass water. That God is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), eternal, full of bliss and knowledge. We can also attain that stage by purifying ourself. That purificatory process is stated as jñāna-tapasā, means knowledge and austerity.
God is great; we are small. Otherwise, we the same. God is also living entity; you are also living entity. God is eternal; you are also eternal. God is full of bliss; you are also full of bliss. So quality, there is no difference. Only difference in quantity. Just like a drop of sea water. It is salty. So this means in the drop there is salt. But the quantity of the salt in the drop is not equal to the quantity of the salt in the vast water. And there is another example. Just like the big fire and the sparks of the fire. The spark of the fire, when it falls on your cloth, a pointlike space it can burn. But the big fire can burn the whole building. So the quality of God is in every one of us.
You do not take birth, but you have conditioned yourself to take birth. Actually, your position is no birth, eternal life. As Kṛṣṇa is eternal, similarly, every one of us we are eternal because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa—the same quality. As Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), He is form, transcendental form, eternal form, full of knowledge, full of bliss, similarly we are also, although particle, the same quality. Therefore it is said, na jāyate. This problem, this rascal civilization, they cannot understand that I am eternal, I am put into this condition of birth and death. No rascal understands. So-called philosophers, scientists, all of them, therefore rascals, fools. Reject them. Reject them immediately.
Pavitram means uncontaminated. Because we, although we are Brahman, now we are contaminated by this material body. But the Lord has no contaminated body of this material existence. We have already noted, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda... Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ means His body is full—full of bliss, full of knowledge, and it is eternal. That is completely distinct from this body. So when there is description of the Lord that He is formless, He is formless means He is not of this form. He has got a sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), a different element. Therefore He's called pavitra. And paramaṁ bhavān: "You are the Supreme Original." Puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum. So "You are Puruṣa." Puruṣa means enjoyer.
That is ignorance. Similarly, those who are in this material world under the shackles of material modes of nature, they have completely forgotten that we have got a spiritual life which is full of freedom, full of knowledge, full of bliss, and we can become exactly almost like God. These things they have forgotten. They think that "If, from the C-class prisoner's life, I can become an A-class prisoner..." Just like in the prison life there are some classes, A-class prisoner, B-class prisoner, C-class prisoner, similarly, our endeavor is going on in this material life to become A-class prisoner. The program is not for getting out of the prison life, but we want to become A-class prisoner. That is ignorance. That is ignorance.
God says that "Whatever is offered to Me in the group of flowers, fruits, vegetables, I accept for eating." Now, if we think that God is far, far away, how He eats? I offer here. How He eats? That means His eating process is different. He can eat even from millions and millions of miles away. So these things are to be understood, that God has got a form, but that form is not exactly our form. If we try to understand God's form as limited as our form, then we'll misunderstand.
In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His form is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, just exactly opposite to this form which we have got just now. We can also attain that form. That is being explained here.
Beyond this material world which is subjected to these rules of six changes, there is another world which is sanātana. Sanātana means which is eternal. So actually there is existence of an eternal nature, like this nature which you are experiencing. And that nature, transcendental nature... The whole Bhagavad-gītā scheme is to take you back to that transcendental nature. Because you are transcendental, you are eternal, you are blissful, you are full of knowledge... Now we are covered. Now we have to go back to that eternal world, which is full of knowledge, full of bliss. So we have to prepare in that way. That is the policy of the human life.
| Page Title: | Full of bliss |
| Compiler: | Matea, Alakananda, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 15 of Sep, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=8, SB=23, CC=9, OB=13, Lec=66, Con=3, Let=7 |
| No. of Quotes: | 129 |