англ. название записи: Q&A: Upadhi, Japa Walk, Yoga Maya, Samskaras and Sukriti - 2025-03-21 - Sri Prem Prayojan
0:01Yes. Raise your hand if you have a question. Yes, mother of dust, Paramachand. Thank you, Ruda. Hare Krishna. So my question is about the glass of yes. When the point of the three paramatma, three aspects of paramatma, when the vision is covered by a special upadhi, and Bhagavan is covered by upadhi, if I understand correctly, from the virat, one can see the Kshirodakashayi Vishnu, and from the Hiranyagarbha, one can see Garbhodakashayi Vishnu,
0:55Kshirodakashayi Vishnu, and from the Karan, Karanodakashayi Vishnu. So if you could elaborate more about this point, I wanted to know more why exactly this type of upadhi, how is it related to, because I can understand for example, maybe more about the covering of the upadhi of the Virat, how Kshirodakashayi Vishnu is. he is a paramatma in every atom and so he is also the paramatma in the heart of every living entity so he is the paramatma of the individual jivas and the individual forms of this world so when the there is bhagavan there is only bhagavan but our bhattamik sakshakar that would we can say the nirvikalpa pratyaksh understand like in nyayashastra perception is of two types
2:03First type is the immediate perception which is, it is uninterpreted and then the buddhi, the intelligence moves and then makes a connection between the object and its qualities. So the first level of perception is called nirvikalpa-pratyaksh and then the very next moment by the movement of buddhi then you have savikalpa-pratyaksh. So in the same way there's a way in which it is similar and a way in which it is different.
2:36It's similar in the sense that the prathamika sakshatkara, that means the first perception of Bhagavan, is a nirvikalpa, nirvikalpa-pratyaksha, it's similar like this, but it's dissimilar in another way, is in that when we have perception of things in this world, the shift from nirvikalpa-pratyaksha to savikalpa-pratyaksha happens so fast we don't even notice it, whereas if you're approaching Bhagavan through the jnana-mishra-bhakti, Then you may have the darshan of Brahman, the Nirvikalpa Pratyaksha, and not progress to the next stage. You can stay there in that Brahman realization forever. So there is a way in which the comparison between Nirvikalpa and Savikalpa Pratyaksha of the sense objects and the perception of Brahman and Bhagavan, there is a way in which they are similar and there is a way in which they are different.
3:35Okay, so that's the first thing. So, then, the darshan of paramatma is the darshan of Bhagavan, but with some upadhi. So, when Bhagavan is perceived with the upadhi of Virat, then he is perceived as the paramatma of the individual forms and shapes of this universe. But, when he is perceived with the upadhi of the subtle cause of the elements, then, that is Garbhodakashayi Vishnu. So, he is the paramatma of the individual universes.
4:09Because, actually, he provides Brahma with the ingredients, and then it is Brahma who does the visarga, he does the secondary creation, and then manifests the ingredients into the different forms in this world, but he cannot do it alone, it's without Kshirodakashaya Vishnu who is actually doing, but Brahma has that experience, that he is the instrument of that.
4:35so then the karan that is the the fine subtle cause even of the subtle and gross elements so that the lord who is in charge of that must be Karanodakashayi Vishnu because there are no universes and then by his desire then all the universes so he's the paramatma of all the universes so we have paramatma of individual atoms, paramatma of the individual universes, and paramatma of all the universes.
5:10So depending on which one is having the darshan of the Lord with particular upadhis, then you will see different aspects of Vishnu. Vishnu is one, but your vision is like that. And ultimately that Vishnu is really Krishna. When the same truth is perceived without any upadhis, sarva upadhi-vinirmuktam, then it's Krishna himself. So, but that perception, it cannot be had without the shuddha-bhakti, completely unmixed, not mixed with a person who can have darshan-paramatma when their bhakti is mixed with yoga.
5:57Brahman and paramatma can be seen by aroha-pantha, ascending process, but bhakti is completely the avaroha-pantha, descending, depends on kripa. prachodayat. We are not the seers in relation to Bhagavan. But there's an element of aroha-pantha in jnana-marga and the yoga-marga. Brahman and Paramatma can be seen to a certain degree. Bhakti has to be there because nothing works without Bhakti. But there's an element of aroha-pantha, the ascending process in there. But Bhakti is completely different. It is avaroha-pantha. Is it clear? Yes? Okay.
6:49Oh, there's a verse. It is written by Sridhar Swami, the original commentator on Srimad Bhagavatam, describing how the vision of three Vishnus comes from the vision of Bhagavan with these Upadhis. So that is in the Bhagavata Deepika commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam by Sridhar Swami. Jiva Goswami has also called to the tender. And Paramatmas and Darabha.
7:20I heard that in Padma Purana, Padma Purana says that inattentive chanting is the root of all offenses, but on opposite side I hear that many elevated devotees chanted japa during walking or lecture or kirtan, even Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, he walking with the devotee and and sometimes chant in japa. And please explain to me what does mean attentive chanting and how to do it properly.
8:25Pramada means inattentiveness, restlessness of the mind. So there are two types of pramada, inattentiveness. one which is deliberate, buddhipurvaka, buddhipurvaka means deliberate, you are deliberately thinking of something else, this is namaparadha, but the inner tenderness that comes due to only one's conditioned state, in other words, the person is trying to completely surrender to the holy name and hear the holy name, but because they have not gone through anartha nivritti, they have not come to the ekagrata yet, So, just by their nature, there's some unsteadiness of the mind. And he tries to, every time he noticed, my mind has wondered, he brings it back. This is not nam-aparadha, this is nam-abhasa.
9:27Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura explains in Nam-tattva-in-Jaiva-dharma, there are two types of vighna, that means obstacle in chanting, sadharana vighna and vishesha vighna, ordinary obstacle and intense or special obstacle. So, the inattentiveness, which just comes from one's conditioned nature, against your will, buddhi-purvaka, by your will, you are trying to hear the holy name, but due to your natural conditioned nature, the mind sometimes wanders, this is a sadharana-vighna, ordinary obstacle, and it is included in the category of namabhasa, it's not an offense, but if you are deliberately, if you are chanting and thinking, oh, I will go shopping in Loi Bazaar today, Or you're meditating on your ex-girlfriend, or whatever, deliberately, then this is vishesha-vighna.
10:27It is the special intense obstacle, and that is in the category of nama-aparadha.
10:35Now, you're saying Srila Prabhupada is going for a japa walk. My Gurudev also used to sit and chant for many hours, but then when it was later in the morning, he would go for a japa walk with the devotees, because you cannot sit all the time. You have to move your body around. Some little exercise is necessary.
10:58So, and sometimes, like Krishna Priya Thakurani, she was chanting japa while she was hearing Srimad Bhagavatam class from Rupa Kaviraj. Rupa Kaviraj became furious. What is this? Either listen to the Bhagavatam or chant japa, you cannot do two at the same time. And he chastised her. Then after that, he fell down. If a senior Vaishnava is speaking, don't chant japa. If advanced Vaishnava is speaking, for sure, you don't chant japa. Just sit and listen.
11:40because when they are speaking they are transmitting shabda-brahma and you pray that it will manifest as a sphurti in the heart and worship every word coming from their lips as if it is more valuable than millions of diamonds but in the case of Krishna Priya Thakurani she is not a sadhaka, she is siddha the difference between sadhana bhakti and bhava bhakti is sadhana bhakti is indriya-vyapara it is an affair of the senses We can also call it indriya-prerana, instigated from the platform of the senses.
12:32So in the stage of sadhana bhakti, then by your will, buddhi-purvaka, you say, now I will chant. Hare Krishna, and you instigate the chant in yourself.
12:47So sadhana bhakti is indriya-prerana, instigated from the platform of the senses.
12:57But bhava bhakti is not like that. the cheshta of bhakti, that means activities, you know, anukulyena krsnanushilanam, the anushilanam, the cultivation of bhakti is of two types, cheshta-rupa and bhava-rupa, endeavors and feelings, so the cheshta, the activities are of two types, sadhana-rupa and karya-rupa, the sadhana-rupa, they are indriya-vyapara, instigated from the platform of the senses, but when a devotee attains the stage of bhava,
13:36why is it not called sadhana bhakti? Because the cheshta, the activities are not instigated from the platform of the senses, they are anubhavas. That means that in the stage of bhava, the devotee has many feelings and his hearing, chanting and remembering are coming spontaneously as a reaction to his feelings. Understand? Just like if someone hears that their mother has passed away, then they may faint. So it was a reaction to the feeling.
14:16They did not decide, oh, now I will go like this, and then follow. They are not thinking and doing it. It just happens. So there is called anubhava, a reaction to the feeling. So the pure devotee is not thinking, now I will chant. But the feeling just makes the name come from his lips, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.
14:44Bhagavatam. So if a pure devotee is hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and he's having so many feelings, he cannot stop it. So there's a difference between a person thinking, oh, I have to finish my fixed number of rounds and later I want to sleep, I won't have time, so let me try to squeeze them in during the Bhagavatam class. This is not the same as Krishna Priya Thakurani, who cannot stop chanting because the name is dancing on her tongue, just like Prakashananda Saraswati.
15:20When Mahaprabhu came to Kashi, he said, you are a sannyasi, you should be studying Vedanta and meditating on Brahman, why are you singing and dancing in the street with the crowds of people, men, women and children, with common people? Mahaprabhu said, excuse me, but I am not chanting, I am not dancing, but this name makes me chant and this name is making me dance.
15:47So what he was doing, it was the anubhāva of his ecstasy. So we should not compare ourselves to the high-level devotees like Prabhupada, my Guru, our ācāryas. There is adhikāra-bheda. In this situation, it is an example of adhikāra-bheda. That means there's a difference in adhikāra. If one person is chanting and walking, and another person is chanting and walking, if they have different adhikāra, then they cannot be compared.
17:06Comfort, they cannot do āsana, because they cannot be still, and then sukha means with ease, easy, there's no stress at all. So if a person will chant nāmābhāsa, then when they are sitting, they will not even feel the body, everything is relaxed, everything is still, no disturbance, and then afterwards they cannot even identify or feel the body. Yadā bhāsa-mātram, only the ābhāsa of the holy name, swallows the darkness of ignorance. So, but if a person is in the mode of ignorance and sleeping, then better to get up and walk around and chant, because better to be in the mode of passion than to be in the mode of ignorance. It's an improvement. In Bhagavad-gītā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the fifth chapter, he says,
18:15A person with pure consciousness knows that whether they are standing, sitting, walking, talking, eating, opening or closing their eyes, that only the senses are engaged in the objects, but I, the soul, am doing nothing.
18:35So the person in pure consciousness does not have kartṛtva-abhimāna, the sense of being the doer.
18:48So as long as the ignorance is there, ahaṅkāra is there, kartṛtva-abhimāna is there, then if you walk, you will think, 'I am walking,' and you will be distracted.
19:07When he is walking, he is stiller than you are when you are sitting. He is more still than you are when you are sitting, when he is running, when he is jumping up and down, because he doesn't have the kartṛtva-abhimāna, the sense of being the doer. So it is not the same if Śrīla Prabhupāda will go for a japa walk, he is moving around, he is being inattentive, he is more still than you are when you are paralyzed.
19:41So again, this is an example of adhikāra-bheda. Understand? Yes.
19:53Srila Gurudeva, at the beginning of this retreat, You were explaining about Sadashiva is not related with Mahamaya, who is the consort of Shiva Shambho. So I was wondering if Shiva Shambho has a Mahamaya as a consort, what is the relationship between Sadashiva and Yogamaya? Yes, Yogamaya is the consort of Sadashiva. Advaita Acharya's wife is Sita, you know, saying, Nitaigaurasitanathu Prema Nandini, śikṣā—nath means Advaita—so in Gaura-līlā, she is the incarnation of Yogamaya. You can see in Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, Advaita Chaitanya's wife, Sita is Yogamaya. So you can see, all the correspondences exactly match, everything is in a perfect symmetry. Oh, one thing I can add, that is, let's say, in Braja-līlā, Yogamaya actually has a form like Durga, Kātyāyanī, when the gopīs are worshipping,
21:06Kātyāyanī, that is not actually Mahamaya. Of course, because it's naravat-līlā, they're thinking we're worshipping Durga, just like ordinary girls in a village think we're worshipping Durga, and she's like the Mahamaya of this world. But that Kātyāyanī they're worshipping, or the form of Durga, or Gauri, just like as Radharani worships Suryadev, so Chandravalli worships Gauri. Where is Gauri Tirtha?
21:46That place where Bhakti Vijnana Goswami has the ashram, there is very close to Gauri Tirtha. So that is just like Radhika, she goes to Suryakund and Radhakund; they are on this end of Govardhan. So Chandravalli goes to the other end of Govardhan and she does her puja and meets Gauri and meets with Krishna in Gauri Tirtha.
22:14There is a big pond there, I took all the devotees there on parikrama in Kartik time. Now it's neglected, but anyway the Gauri Tirtha is still there. So we can see here Chandravalli is worshipping Gauri. So this form of Durga in Radha-Krishna's līlā in Vrindavan, this is actually Yogamaya-devi. But at the same time, Yogamaya-devi has a form in the Vraja-līlā like a human being. Who is that? Paurnamasi Devi. Paurnamasi.
22:54So in Gaura-līlā, the same thing is there. In Gaura-līlā, Yogamaya is Pāṭa-māyā. So Pāṭa-māyā is the deity of Durga, who lives in the banyan tree in Pāṭa-talā. Pāṭa-talā is the modern, it is the upper brahmi, a corruption of Pāṭa-māyā-talā, the tree where Pāṭa-māyā is living. But the Bengalis called Pāṭa-māyā-talā. But it comes from the ancient Pāṭa-māyā-talā. And British Eve is next door.
23:27So, just as in Vrindavan you have Gopiśvara Mahadeva and Kātyāyanī Devi, that Durga has a human form in the... that Yogamaya, sorry, has a human form in the līlā, and that is Paurnamasi Devi. So in the same way, in Navadvip Dham, Pāṭa-talā is there, she is the Pāṭa-māyā, Pāṭa-māyā of the Navadvip and the Bhrigushiva, and the Pāṭa-māyā of Navadvip also has a form, a human-like form, and it's the wife of Advaita Acharya, Sita Devi.
24:08The forms of Yogamaya are not also limited to Paurnamasi Devi. She is the Yogamaya of all the līlās in Dāsya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Mādhurya, but because she has a form of a gurujana, a senior person, so Radhakrishna will be very shy and inhibited in front of her. So, Yogamaya has another form, especially for the department of Mādhurya-rasa, one department, Mādhurya-rasa, that is Vṛndā Devi.
24:45So, we were speaking about Mukunda, in Gaura-līlā, Vṛndā Devi is Mukunda.
24:54So, Vṛndā also has so many manifestations, like Vīrā.
25:11kula, chandra, jai, jai, lalita, vishako, adhi, shakhi, vṛndā, jai, jai, śirupa, mañjarī, rati, mañjarī, ananga, jai, jai, paurnamasi, yogamaya, jai, obhira, vṛndā, So here, Vṛndā Devi has an assistant, Vīrā, and there is a, just like if you go to Kamyavan, in the Govindadeva temple there, there is the deity, original deity of Vṛndā Devi, of Vrindavan, that was established 5,000 years ago by Vajranabha, Sri Krishna's great-grandson.
26:05So similarly, if you go from Nandagram, on the way to Varsana, before you get to Prem Sarovar, on the right side, there is Sanket, and in Sanket, there is the temple of Vīrā Devi, so this is also Yogamaya, but the expansion of, as Vṛndā Devi is the expansion of the Paurnamasi, she is the expansion of Vṛndā, and there are also Vana-devis, they are like fairies who live in the forest, and they are also Vṛndā Devi's assistants.
26:43Vṛndā Devi is the leader of all the Vana-devis, all the fairies in the forest. These are the different aspects of Yogamaya. Yes, raise your hand. Gurudev, I wanted to ask, yesterday you were telling about the saṁskāras, the impressions. So, I just wanted to ask, what was the difference between saṁskāras and sukṛti? Like, if someone is going to dhāma, fasting for Ekādaśī, like this, they accumulate the ajñāta-sukṛti and due to which they further elevate in the devotion. And at the same time, they are also accumulating saṁskāras. So, are they both the same thing or are both different things?
27:27The same thing, but they are related. The saṁskāras, they are the impressions in your citta, and so they affect your behavior. Actually, to be honest, all the people of the world, they are not doing anything, they are just in autopilot, and the autopilot is their saṁskāras.
29:21Let's say you're doing some job and at the end then you get paid and then with this money you buy a car. So I have now arranged for the fruit of my work, this car. No you didn't. Because maybe the company you're working for went out of business and in the end of the week they could not pay you.
29:41You cannot manage that.
29:46Or maybe you got the money and on the way to buy the car someone stole it from you. You're not in control. So you don't initiate the activity, you don't perform the activity,
30:30If in your previous life you were smoking a cigarette, then in this life that saṃskāra will come into your mind and say I want to smoke a cigarette. Actually the saṃskāras are just like pictures, they can't force you to do anything. But if you're identifying with them, then you just go along with it. So that's why I said autopilot. The common person, because they identify with their mind, is just an autopilot and there's a flow of saṃskāras from the subconscious mind to the conscious mind and however those saṃskāras are moving,
31:11They're just going on. And out of illusion they think, I am choosing, I have free will, and I am doing everything of my own volition. You have free will, but once you surrender to māyā and become covered, that was your free will. And now the material energy is doing everything. So, saṃskāra means the impressions in your citta. Now one could say, well the impressions in my citta cannot bring the result of my work, because that involves the whole universe.
32:24So, if you do the karma-mukha-sukṛti, then it makes an impression in the Cosmic Citta, and so you can get good luck. The fruit of your work is coming. But that is, you are not aware of that yourself. So, the impressions in the universe which bring about your good fortune, this is sukṛti. And the saṃskāras in your own citta, which affect your state of mind, it's also a kind of saṃskāra, but that is your subjective experience.
33:08So the subjective saṃskāras, that is saṃskāra. And the sukṛti is a kind of saṃskāra, but it's related to your destiny of your life. So it's not limited to only what's in your consciousness, but in the universe by which your fruits of work are coming and your destiny is unfolding. So both are types of saṃskāra, but when we make the distinction between sukṛti and saṃskāra, we mean the sukṛti is in the cosmic citta by which your good fortune comes about. It may be the jñāna-mukha-sukṛti, karma-mukha-sukṛti, bhakta-mukha-sukṛti, and when we make the distinction about saṃskāra, then we mean the saṃskāra in your own citta, by which when you are meditating, your thoughts and feelings are arising.
33:58But yesterday we spoke about gaḍa-saṃskāras, now this is a very critical point, because from one point of view, your gaḍa-saṃskāras, they're impressions made upon us by rasika-vaiṣṇava association, but Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Jaiva Dharma, he gives another perspective, let's say, hlādinī-pradhāna-vicāra, where he said that, let's say for example, if you associate with someone in sākāras, and someone in Vaikuṇṭha-bhakti, and someone to Ramachandra, you get impressions, And due to these mixed impressions, you cannot get a taste in any kind of rati, right?
34:46So this is definitely the impressions coming from outside in your citta. But, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura makes this distinction, gaḍa-saṃskāra is actually the ādi-saṃskāra of your svarūpa.
35:01So that is different when you associate with the Vaishnavas, who are, you have eternal, the sadhu-guru, with whom you have eternal relationship in the spiritual world, then by their association, you begin to experience the gaḍa-saṃskāra, and that is, those are the ādi-saṃskāras of your spiritual form, and the degree to which the gaḍa-saṃskāra arises, to that degree we can understand the acintya-bhāvas, these are very fine things.
