2021.01.

09 - A structural review of the main topics of

Bhagavatam. Lect. 13 - Bhakti Vijnana Goswami

Dharma-mula. Pure religion

ŚB 7.11.7

धर्ममूलं हि भगवान्सर्ववेदमयो हरि: ।

स्मृतं च तद्विदां राजन्येन चात्मा प्रसीदति ॥ ७ ॥

dharma-mūlaṁ hi bhagavān
sarva-vedamayo hariḥ
smṛtaṁ ca tad-vidāṁ rājan
yena cātmā prasīdati

Synonyms
dharma-mūlam — the root of religious principles; hi — indeed; bhagavān — the Supreme
Personality of Godhead; sarva-veda-mayaḥ — the essence of all Vedic knowledge; hariḥ — the
Supreme Being; smṛtam ca — and the scriptures; tat-vidām — of those who know the Supreme
Lord; rājan — O King; yena — by which (religious principle); ca — also; ātmā — the soul, mind, body
and everything; prasīdati — become fully satisfied.

Translation
The Supreme Being, the Personality of Godhead, is the essence of all Vedic knowledge, the root
of all religious principles, and the memory of great authorities. O King Yudhiṣṭhira, this principle
of religion is to be understood as evidence. On the basis of this religious principle, everything is
satisfied, including one’s mind, soul and even one’s body.

Purport
As stated by Yamarāja, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam. Yamarāja, the representative of
the Lord who takes care of the living beings after their death, gives his verdict as to how and
when the living being will change his body. He is the authority, and he says that the religious
principles consist of the codes and laws given by God. No one can manufacture religion, and
therefore manufactured religious systems are rejected by the followers of the Vedic principles. In
Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) it is said, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: Vedic knowledge means to
understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, whether one speaks of the
Vedas, scriptures, religion or the principles of everyone’s occupational duty, all of them must aim
at understanding Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.6)
therefore concludes:

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati
In other words, religious principles aim at learning how to render transcendental loving service to
the Lord. That service must be unmotivated and unchecked by material conditions. Then human
society will be happy in all respects.
The smṛti, the scriptures following the principles of Vedic knowledge, are considered the
evidence of Vedic principles. There are twenty different types of scripture for following religious
principles, and among them the scriptures of Manu and Yājñavalkya are considered to be all-
pervading authorities. In the Yājñavalkya-smṛti it is said:

śruti-smṛti-sadācāraḥ
svasya ca priyam ātmanaḥ
samyak saṅkalpajaḥ kāmo
dharma-mūlam idaṁ smṛtam
One should learn human behavior from śruti, the Vedas, and from smṛti, the scriptures following
the Vedic principles. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu says:

śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-
pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā
aikāntikī harer bhaktir
utpātāyaiva kalpate
The purport is that to become a devotee one must follow the principles laid down in śruti and
smṛti. One must follow the codes of the Purāṇas and the pāñcarātrikī-vidhi. One cannot be a pure
devotee without following the śruti and smṛti, and the śruti and smṛti without devotional service
cannot lead one to the perfection of life.

Therefore, from all the evidence the conclusion is that without bhakti, devotional service, there is
no question of religious principles. God is the central figure in the performance of religious
principles. Almost everything going on in this world as religion is devoid of any idea of devotional
service and is therefore condemned by the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Without devotional
service, so-called religious principles are only cheating.

To understand Krisna in His highest manifestation as Vraja Krisna is very difficult, even though it
may seem to be easy for us, and "Srimad-Bhagavatam" is purifying our heart to give us this
experience – Krisna’s darsan.

The second part of the Seventh Canto is describing varnasrama. Following varnasrama dharma
without being a devotee is useless because it will not bring you to the ultimate goal of life. The
purpose of all the rules and regulations is to please the Lord, as a result we ourselves and all the
people around us will be satisfied.

Bhakti is available to everyone, you don't need a preliminary qualification. The only qualification
for this is faith, and anyone can develop it. A direct way to develop pure devotion is to come in
contact with the pure devotee, open your heart, listen with faith and serve him. The essence of
the second part of the Seventh Canto is to understand how by following the duty of varnasrama
one prepares one’s heart for bhakti and how one becomes receptive to bhakti.

The essence of varnasrama system is to help people to get purified from material desires. And
after that they will very easily develop sraddha in the process of bhakti and will start worshipping
the Lord, and the Lord will start reciprocating with them.

SHORT SUMMARY
Complexity in Understanding Krishna: Grasping the concept of Krishna is challenging. "Brahman
is difficult but not so difficult to understand... but to understand Krishna as a person... is actually
very difficult."

Role of Bhagavatam: The text purifies the heart for a deeper understanding. "Bhagavatam is
purifying our heart to give us this experience."

Bhakti in Varnashrama: Emphasizing devotional service in varnashrama. The second part is very
important because [it] is describing varnashrama according to Srimad-Bhagavatam. 1:27:50-1:35

Universal Accessibility of Bhakti: Open to all, with faith as the key. "Bhakti is available to
everyone... the only qualification for this is faith."

Impartiality of God through Bhakti: Addressing God's fairness. "Lord is impartial... bhakti is
available for everyone." - Thats why varnasrama exists - to give this opportunity to everyone, even
to those who have material desires. 00:26-00:30 , 1:32-1:35 because not everyone is ready to
do this, there is an alternative, indirect way of how to come to this point, how to prepare
one's heart for devotional service, and that alternative, alternative way is varnasrama is
nothing but a preparational process, a process, a very amazing and beautiful system,
created by the Lord himself.

Vedic and Smriti Scriptures' Importance: Essential in understanding and practicing bhakti. "One
should learn human behavior from sruti, the Vedas, and from smriti." 1:10:30-1.19.30

Following Vedic Principles: Essential for order and understanding God. "No one can manufacture
religion... therefore manufactured religious systems are rejected."

Devotional Service as True Religion: The essence of religious practice. "Without bhakti,
devotional service, there is no question of religious principles." 1:38:10-1:42

Seventh Canto's Focus: Discusses devotion and varnashrama. "The seventh canto... is describing
UTI, the impetus to act... and... the broader philosophical point that is the impartiality of the
Lord."

TRANSCRIPT

We are trying to understand the message of Bhagavatam and the structure of Srimad-
Bhagavatam. How Srimad-Bhagavatam is organized structurally to give us the complete
understanding of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which is repeated again and
again, not easy to understand. Brahman is difficult but not so difficult to understand. Paramatma
is more difficult, but not extremely difficult. But to understand Krishna as a person, and especially
in His highest manifestation as Radha Krishna, is actually very difficult, even though it may seem
to be easy for us. So, Bhagavatam is purifying our heart to give us this experience because
ultimately, to understand means to have the experience. Therefore, where does 'they' come from?
The Sanskrit root 'vid', and the meaning of the Sanskrit root 'veed' to know, uh, is actually to see.
To know God means to see God. One who didn't see God in person, he doesn't know Him yet. So,
and therefore, the whole Bhagavatam is a darshan; it's darshan of the Lord, and ultimately, it
facilitates us to have darshan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in person. And as we
were progressing slowly through the different topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10 topics [Music]
and through the cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which roughly correspond to these topics, even
though all the topics are described in all the cantos, but still, there is some emphasis, uh, to a
certain topic, uh, in each particular canto. As we are progressing slowly, we are preparing our
heart to the advent of Lord Krishna, the end of ninth, second of Srimad Bhagavatam is this, you
know, event, advent of Lord Krishna. Who is Lord Krishna? And then, ultimately, the beginning of
the tenth canto, the advent of Lord Krishna will say, the advent of Lord Krishna was in our heart,
within our consciousness, within our buddhi, intelligence. Uh, so we are on the seventh canto,
and as you probably remember, I described the general structure and the message of the seventh
canto in the last class, but because it was a little rushed, I couldn't describe the second part, and
the second part is very important because the second part of the seventh canto is
describing varnashrama according to Srimad-Bhagavatam. And this is what Prabhupada
called his 50 percent unfulfilled mission, and this is what puzzles many, many devotees, how to
fulfill it, and there are very diverse opinions about this. Some people say that just forget about it;
it's impossible in our present day and age. Others say, no, no, no, let's go for it; let's become very
traditional, right on the spot, get into some remote village, cut off electricity, cut off the Internet,
and start plowing the field with the bulls. So there are different recipes, so different ideas of how
to apply this, and therefore it's very important for us to understand, uh, what is, uh, described
here. Therefore, I decided not to go to the eighth canto today but to devote our whole session
today to this remaining, uh, five chapters of the seventh canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, and try to
elucidate some points, uh, obviously, I will not be able to do justice to this important topic with a
short time, but you know, nevertheless, try to explain important points which Narada Muni is
doing. And in fact, this five, uh, foreign, we all know that there is, and there are 20 Dharma
sastras, uh, only a few of them are still extant, six as far as I know, uh, the law of Manu, the law of
Yajnavalkya, the law of Parashara, the law of Yama, and a few others. Uh, so here we have the
21st, uh, foreign, described from the bhakti point of view because Narada is bhakti avatar. He is
the living manifestation of bhakti, of devotional service, and he is redefining varnashrama from
the, uh, vantage point of bhakti, from this angle of vision, and therefore it's very important for us.
What is the place of varnashrama? What is the system of varnashrama? What are the main
principles of varnashrama? What is the purpose of varnashrama for those who practice
bhakti? Because sometimes it is said that for those who are practicing bhakti, varnashrama is
not necessary at all, and there are, you know, you can make a strong case for this, especially
taking the quotes from Bhakti Rasamritsa Sindhu.

So, that will be the topic of our discussion today. And I don't know for how long I will go, but
please prepare your questions if you have. I will try to answer, or if you have some questions
from the last session, I will also be happy to try to answer these questions about the seventh
canto of Bhagavatam. So, let's start. I will read a very important verse from the beginning of this
section of Srimad Bhagavatam, 11th chapter of the seventh canto, "The Perfect Society: Four
Social Classes," text number seven.

Dharma-mūlaṁ hi bhagavān, sarva-veda-mayo hariḥ, smṛta ṁ ca tad-vidā ṁ rājan, yena cātmā

prasīdati.

Translation and purport by His Divine Grace: The Supreme Being, the Personality of Godhead, is
the essence of all Vedic knowledge, the root of all religious principles, and the memory of great
authorities. O King Yudhisthira, this principle of religion is to be understood as evidence. On the
basis of this religious principle, everything is satisfied, including one's mind, soul, and even the
body.

So, let's read the purport by Srila Prabhupada. As stated by Yamaraja, dharmam tu saksad
bhagavat-pranitam. Yamaraja, the representative of the Lord who takes care of the living beings
after their death, gives his verdict as to how and when the living being will change his body. He is
the authority, and he says that the religious principles consist of the codes and laws given by
God. No one can manufacture religion, and therefore manufactured religious systems are
rejected by the followers of the Vedic principles. In Bhagavad-gita it is said, vedais ca
sarvair aham eva vedyah: Vedic knowledge means to understand the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Krishna. Therefore, whether one speaks of the Vedas, scriptures, religion, or
the principles of everyone's occupational duty, all of them must aim at understanding
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srimad-Bhagavatam therefore concludes:
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokshaje ahaituky apratihata yayatma
suprasidati. In other words, religious principles aim at learning how to render
transcendental loving service to the Lord. That service must be unmotivated and
unchecked by material conditions. Then human society will be happy in all respects.

The smriti, the scriptures following the principles of Vedic knowledge, are considered the
evidence of Vedic principles. There are twenty different types of scriptures for following
religious principles, and among them, the scriptures of Manu and Yajnavalkya are considered to
be all-pervading authorities. In the Yajnavalkya-smriti, it is said, sruti-smriti-sadacarah svasya ca
priyam atmanah samyak sankalpajah kamo dharma-mulam idam smritam. One should learn
human behavior from sruti, the Vedas, and from smriti, the scriptures following the Vedic
principles. Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu says: sruti-smriti-puranadi-
pancaratra-vidhim vina aikantiki harer bhaktir utpatayaiva kalpate. The purport is that to become
a devotee, one must follow the principles laid down in sruti and smriti. One must follow the
codes of the Puranas and the pancaratrika-vidhi.

One cannot be a pure devotee without following the sruti and smriti, and the sruti and
smriti without devotional service cannot lead one to the perfection of life. Therefore, from all
the evidence, the conclusion is that without bhakti, devotional service, there is no question of
religious principles. God is the central figure in the performance of religious principles. Almost
everything going on in this world as religion is devoid of any idea of devotional service and is
therefore condemned by the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Without devotional service, so-called
religious principles are only cheating.

Prabhupada is extremely strong in this purport at the end. Almost everything going on in
this world as religion is devoid of any idea of devotional service and therefore condemned
by the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam. What Prabhupada means is that the desire to please the
Lord as a person is the root of religious principles. This is what Narada Muni is saying here:
Dharma-mulam hi bhagavan. Indeed, the root of Dharma is Bhagavan, the Personality of
Godhead, Hari, who is, will, whose desire, how to please Him, is described in all the Vedas. All
the Vedas are describing how you should behave to please the Lord, and if we don't have this
very clear understanding that by following all these rules and regulations, ultimately, what is the
purpose to be achieved? The purpose which we should achieve is the pleasure of the Lord, the
satisfaction of the Lord, that Hari-tosanam, that Hari is ultimately satisfied. And whatever we do,
if this is not the case, then it is indeed a pure waste of time, a pure useless labor.

So, therefore, this verse is basically the foundation for the whole second part of the seventh
canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam: hi bhagavan, smrtam ca tad-vidam rajan yena ca atma prasidati.
And ultimately, if the Lord is pleased, you will also be pleased; you will be satisfied. Everyone will
be satisfied, all the people around you will be satisfied if you're really pleasing the Lord by your
actions, by your behavior. If not, then you will get all kinds of dissatisfied people, starting with
yourself, somebody whom you see in the mirror every day.

So, that's the reading before we start describing the general review of this part. Let me chant
Mangalacaran: krsna krpaya, please [Music]...

Prahlad Maharaj is preaching to his demon friends, and we don't know what really
happened with all of them, whether all of them became devotees or not. Prahlad Maharaj is
also preaching to his father, and his father only became agitated by his preaching; he didn't
become a pure devotee. He is in contact with a pure devotee, a Mahabhagavata devotee. He is
hearing from his lotus lips very important instructions, but he doesn't become a devotee. Prahlad
Maharaja's mother, Kayadu, was listening, and Kayadu was probably sleeping all the time during
the Bhagavatam class, being just seven months old or whatever, in her womb. He very intently
heard everything, not only heard but also digested everything, realized everything, and became a
Mahabhagavat, a pure devotee. So again, we see that there is apparent impartiality. And as I said
last time, it's a habit of demons to accuse the Lord of being impersonal, as Hiranyakasipu does in
the seventh canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. So, the idea of a devotee is to protect the Lord and
to explain how the Lord is impartial. We can see that in the first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam,
Kunti, she actually proves in a very beautiful way how the Lord is impartial in her prayers. She is
standing in front of the Lord, and she's saying, "You're equal to everyone. You're not only equal to
me, but you're equal to everyone, and everyone gets from you what he wants to get, and everyone
indeed has equal opportunity to become a devotee and to render service to you." So here, there is
a return to this topic of Srimad-Bhagavatam, and as a return to this topic of Srimad-Bhagavatam,
again we have to try to prove that and understand how the Lord is impartial, and we will
definitely understand how the Lord is Impartial by giving the alternative system. So, we
already said that thisverse describes how to get pure devotion, and the direct way to get pure
devotion is to come in contact with the pure devotee, open your heart, listen to him,
his face, Vasudeva kataruchi, from him about the topics of the Lord was, and then, Pro if you
start serving mahat, these great people, serving these great Mahan, pure devotees, then you will
get bhakti. This is how bhakti starts; you will get sharada, and then because you will get Shada,
you will get bhakti because shradha is the qualification for pure devotional service. But because
not everyone is ready to do this, there is an alternative, indirect way of how to come to this
point, how to prepare one's heart for devotional service, and that alternative, alternative
way is varnasrama is nothing but a preparational process, a process, a very amazing and
beautiful system, created by the Lord himself. He himself created this, and he says about this
in Bhagavad-gita [Music] and the Lord says this only because he wants to be impartial, only
because he is merciful to everyone, and he wants to give chances to everyone. So basically, the
essence of varnashrama, or the essence of the second part of the seventh canto, is to
understand how by following the duties of varnashrama, one prepares one's heart for
bhakti and how one becomes receptive to bhakti, what does it mean to become receptive to
bhakti, and how varnashrama is always subsidiary to bhakti. That's a very important point
because oftentimes, even devotees, they try to put varnashrama

over bhakti or to overemphasize it, maybe not without reason, maybe because varnashrama is
not a very favorite child in the devotional circles, and sometimes we do neglect it. So, to kind of
create balance in this regard, devotees start overemphasizing varnashrama, but that's a remedy
which is more dangerous than the disease itself. So again, from the start, I want to say that if we
study this section of Srimad Bhagavatam, we will get a very balanced and proper view of what
varnashrama is, and we will be able to practically understand how to apply varnashrama in the
modern context, and that's basically what I will try to explain. And before I go into some little
details of this thing, I wanted to read a section from Bhaktivinoda, where he explains the
evolution of a human being, and the rules which are followed on every stage of development of a
human being. There is a certain stage of development, so we should very clearly distinguish
between varnashrama as a natural stage of development for the human being, for the civilized
human being, and varnashrama followed by us as devotees. There is a distinction, and basically,
Bhaktivinoda will say that there is a tension between bhakti and varnashrama, even though
varnashrama is a very beautiful system which makes people pious and which facilitates, from
one hand, a smooth transition from material piety towards a higher version of piety, which is
bhakti, transcendental piety, transcendental dharma, from material dharma to transcendental
dharma. Dharma is very important as a transition stage or as a springboard from one stage to
another. Nevertheless, we should not underestimate the role that there will always be some
tension between those people who follow the rules of a lower stage and those people who follow
the rules of the higher stage. And let us not fall into this trap. Why I want to read this paragraph
from Bhaktivinoda is because I'm sure if you listen to it attentively, you will understand certain
dynamics which we can see in our society when the ardent followers of varnashrama condemn
some people who are apparently neglectful to varnashrama, and again, you know, it really has to
be judged very carefully whether somebody is neglectful to varnashrama or he is neglectful to
the details of varnashrama but not neglectful to the essence of varnashrama. So, let's hear what
Bhaktivinoda has to say in this regard. The reason is that man's life takes the form of ascending
steps, saying that our whole life is like a ladder, and we have to take one step after another step
and follow very strictly the rules. That's from the section where Bhaktivinoda explains the
following of the rules on each stage of our life and this stage of our development. Those outside
the varnashrama system are on the lowest step. Those for people who don't follow varnashrama,
the lowest of all, I mean, that's, unfortunately, all of us. Theistic moralists are on the second step.
Very pertinently, Bhaktivinoda calls followers of varnashrama as atheistic moralists because a
pure varnashrama system is about morals, not about God. God is there, but it doesn't have to be
there, and therefore, he says that varnashrama system is basically for those people who want to
be moral, but they are theistic, on the second step. Theistic moralists are on the third step.
Theistic moralists are also included in the varnashrama system, or you may say that atheistic
moralists are outside of varnashrama, but Bhaktivinoda mixes these two stages within
varnashrama. First are followers of varnashrama who don't believe in God or place Him into
some subsidiary role, and the second varnashrama division is those followers of varnashrama
who believe in God and who know that God is the main point of varnashrama. But then he says
why the bhaktas, why the bhaktas are the fourth step, higher than them are those people who
follow bhakti. And raganuga bhaktas are the fifth step, yet higher than bhakti. They are the fifth
stage. So, we have outside of varnashrama two stages within varnashrama, and we have the
highest raganuga bhaktas, the bhaktas who are spontaneously following the heart, the raga, the
attachment to the Lord, in their practices of bhakti.
So, let's try also to identify where we are, whether we are primarily theistic moralists, followers of
varnashrama who strive for God, and who may actually, on this stage, overemphasize, in our
identity, vaidhi bhakti. So maybe we are raganuga bhaktas, who knows? Please listen; it's very
important. It is the nature of the soul to ascend to the next stage, to the next higher step, but he
should not ascend prematurely or too quickly. It's the nature of the Soul to try to progress; we
want to be higher and higher and higher. Ultimately, every one of us wants to reach the highest
stage, we all want to reach perfection. So, and therefore, he describes this ladder, and he says
that yes, please go further, don't stay in the place where you are, it doesn't matter where you are
now, you are entitled to go all the way up there, that's no problem. But please, don't be too much
in a hurry, don't try to do it prematurely or too quickly, because it will only create disturbance in
your own life and in the life of others. Don't imagine that you're already whatever bhakta, you're
serving the Lord in your spiritual body, whereas you know, as Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati used to
say, these people don't know how to go to the toilet, and they imagine that they are already
practicing raganuga sadhana. That's why Prabhupada established varnashrama because that's a
gradual progression, and you cannot reach the highest step without going through these steps. If
you try to jump over all these steps, you know, like Prabhupada was laughing, big, big monkey,
big, big belly, Lanka jumping melancholy, that's an English translation of some verses in Bengali,
that you know, that when big monkeys with big bellies tried to imitate Hanuman and jump to
Lanka, they ended up somewhere in a big disgrace, in the water, because they just cannot jump
too much belly. So basically, Prabhupada used this example to say that you should not, you
should not, you should not go prematurely, therefore varnashrama is an important stage of
development, but you, at the same time, have to know where you have to reach, and therefore
Bhaktivinoda continues, only after being firmly established on one step is it possible to ascend to
the next step. So you can't jump, because you have to have a very firm foundation. So you have to
establish yourself in this step, in this one step, and then go to the next step, and then go to the
next step. That is why being qualified with steadiness on each level has been emphasized. He's
explaining a very important verse from the 11th canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, what is Guna?
What is proper behavior? What is the virtue? Krishna answers to him, when you are
established in your own position, in your own adhikar, and this being established is Guna,
everything else is Dosha, and therefore Krishna repeats twice this verse. So what is this,
varnasankara? It is better to perform one's own duty than to perform somebody else's duty,
even if it's a higher duty. Prabhupada stresses this, only after being firmly established in one
step is it possible to ascend to the next step. That is why being qualified with steadiness on each
level has been emphasized. When a person is qualified to ascend to the next step, he must also
give up attachment to the next step, to the previous step, to the old step.
prominent tendency. There is one tendency to rush and neglect the rules of each stage, and
another tendency is to cling to the old rules, and it is called also niyamagraha, when you're too
much attached to the rules and regulations and you're not progressing through these ladders,
through these steps. And there are two ways of niyamagraha being described here because of
this. The outcasts have no respect for atheistic moralists. It's very interesting. Bhaktivinoda says
that those who follow the rules of the lower stage, they disrespect those who followed the higher
rules.