Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.22

Anantarām Śāstrījī: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [chants verse; Prabhupāda and devotees respond] [break]

sa tvaṁ hi nitya-vijātma-guṅaḥ sva-dhāmnā kālo vaśī-kṛta-visṛjya-visarga-śaktiḥ cakre visṛṣṭam ajayeśvara ṣoḍaśāre niṣpīḍyamānam upakarṣa vibho prapannam [SB 7.9.22]

[03:46]

Dayānanda: Translation: "My dear Lord, the supreme great, You have created this material world of sixteen paraphernalia, but You are transcendental to such material qualities, or in other words, all these material qualities are under Your full control. You are never conquered by them. Therefore the time element is Your representation. O my Lord, the Supreme, nobody can conquer over You, but so far I am concerned, I am being crushed by the wheel of time, and therefore I am surrendering fully unto You. And now, therefore, kindly take me under the protection of Your lotus feet."

Prabhupāda:

The same thing is repeatedly reminded. Māyā... We are niṣpīḍyamānam. We are being crushed by the wheel of time with sixteen spokes. We are being crushed. At the same time, we are thinking that we are very happy. This is called māyā. This is māyā's grace, that in any condition of life, the suffering is very, very acute, but the living entity who is suffering, he thinks, "I am enjoying." This is called māyā. You have seen that the pig eats stool. And when we see, we say, "Ah! What is that? Oh! He is eating stool." But he's thinking that he's enjoying. He is thinking he's enjoying. This is the covering influence of māyā, prakṣepātmika-śakti. Otherwise, how one can suffer? The worm in the stool is enjoying. If you take one worm from the stool and keep it aside, he'll again go to the stool. This is māyā, prakṣepātmika-śak..., āvaraṅātmika-śakti, covering.

Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān [SB 7.9.43]. Prahlāda Mahārāja will speak in later verses that śoce tato vimukha-cetasaḥ, māyā-suhkhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. A Vaiṣṅava's concern is... He sees everything. Just like any common man can understand what kind of birth. Nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṅa kare. Very peculiar arrangement of the māyā. We see sometimes in the airplane, even Indian, they're eating the intestine of the hog, enjoying. That is enjoying. There is a preparation called naphi[?] in Burma. That preparation is made... Every householder has a big jug at the door, and any animal dies, he puts it in that. It is... The bad smell is so strong, if once open, that whole neighborhood will be polluted, bad smell. So they keep it for some years, and when it is decomposed, the juice is coming, they strain the juice and keep it in bottle. That is called naphi. And when there is some festival, they give little, little, and people enjoy it. So, nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṅa kare. When my Guru Mahārāja was alive, we had one temple, one of his, in Burma, in Rangoon. So when they were making purīs with nice ghee, all the inhabitants will come, "Oh! What you are doing? What you are doing?" [laughter] "What you are doing? Intolerable. This..." The flavor of ghee was intolerable, and the flavor of naphi is tolerable.

So nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarja bhakṣaṅ kare. Very peculiar condition we are in this material world. But do not think that when Kṛṣṅa comes, He also is subjected to this suffering. No. That is īśitā. Just like there are many patients in the hospital, infectious disease, but that does not mean the doctors who are treating them, they are also infectious. No. They are not infectious. Similarly, when Kṛṣṅa comes... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7]. So He is not subjected to this māyic influence. He's not subjected. Therefore it is said, tvam nitya-vijitātma-guṅaḥ. This material world is created by Him, composition of three material qualities—sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa—but He does not belong to any one of them. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that when God comes, incarnation, He also accepts the sattva-guṅa, and therefore the form is there. Their conclusion is, "The Absolute Truth is formless, so when He accepts a form of this material world, He accepts this sattva-guṅa." But that is not the fact. He's above sattva-guṅa even. Therefore it is said, nitya-vijita ātma-guṅaḥ. Sva-dhāmnā. He comes with His own spiritual energy, sva-dhāmnā. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, in the beginning it is said, dhāmnā nirasta-kuhakam [SB 1.1.1]. Nirasta-kuhakam. Kuhakam means "illusion." So the spiritual world, there is no such illusion or these three guṅas. Therefore it is said, nirasta-kuhakaṁ, sva-dhāmnā. In the spiritual world there is no influence of these three guṅas. That is in this material world. So when Kṛṣṅa comes, He does not become affected or, rather, infected with these guṅas. Nirguṅa... That is nirguṅa. Nirguṅa guṅa-bhoktā ca. He's bhoktā. He's bhoktā or nirguṅa. Nirguṅa means spiritual guṅa, not material guṅa. When it is said, nirguṅa, "nirguṅa" means without any material quality. That is nirguṅa.

Sa tvaṁ hi nitya-vijitātma-guṅaḥ sva-dhāmnā kālo vaśī-kṛta. Kāla, the time factor. We are under the kāla, we conditioned souls—past, present, future, kāla. Kāla, time. Time has got three factors: past, present, future. So what is past, present, future for me, that may not be past, present, future for Brahmā, or that may not be past, present, future for the ant. Every... This world is relative world. My past, present, future is relative to me. My limited span of life, say a hundred years. So before hundred years, it is past; and after hundred years, it is future; and the present hundred years is present. But so far Brahmā is concerned, his past, present, future is different. Our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand—his present day. That is his present day. Just like we have got this present day, beginning from 6:30 to 5.30, that. So Brahmā hasn't got such day. This 6:30 to 5.30, say eleven hours, and Brahma, this eleven hours means our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṅo viduḥ [Bg 8.17].

[By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.]

So in this way, relatively... Similarly, one ant, his one hundred years, he cannot imagine that so long period of man is one day. So everything is relative in our condition. But for Kṛṣṅa, He's eternal. There is no such thing as past, present and future. Nityaḥ śāśvatam. We are also of the same quality, nityaḥ śāśvataḥ, but under the condition of material nature we are controlled, and this is going on by the time factor.

Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja is regretting, niṣpīḍyamānam: "I am being crushed by this time factor." But we are thinking, "It is all right." This is called ignorance. We are being crushed under this time factor, the wheel, time wheel, with sixteen spokes, senses. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṅi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūta [Bg 15.7]. "These living entities," Kṛṣṅa said, "they are My part and parcel." So they should remain with Him just like the fire and the spark. Unfortunately, we have fallen down. And the result is niṣpīḍyamāna, being crushed. So if one is serious to be saved from this crushing process of time factor, then they should learn from Prahlāda Mahārāja. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186].

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

That... What is that? Niṣpīḍyamāna upakarṣa: "Kindly pick me up." Vibho: "You are vibhu, most powerful, the great omnipotent." "Yes, I am. All right. But why shall I pick it up?" Now, prapannam: "Now I surrender. I rebelled against You, and I was put into this wheel of time, and suffering one after another life. Now I have realized that I am in a precarious condition of life." So niṣpīḍyamānam.

This is called human life, when one understands... The animal life, they do not understand what is suffering. The cats and dogs, they are thinking they're living very happily. But in the human life they should come to the understanding that "Actually, we are not living happily. We are being crushed by the wheel of time in so many ways." Niṣpīḍyamānam. When this sense comes, then he is a human being. Otherwise he's animal. If he's thinking that he's all right... That is 99.9 percent people think that "I am all right." Even in the most abominable condition of life, just like the hog and dog, still, he is thinking, "I am all right." So long this ignorance will continue, he is simply animal. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

This is going on. Ātma-buddhiḥ, tri-dhātuke. This body, which is made of kapha, pitta, vāyu, everyone is thinking, "I am this body." Whole world is going on. Simply we, a few members of the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, we are going door to door and trying to convince them, "Sir, you are not this body." They don't care for it. "I am." "I am this body, "I am Mr. John," "I am Englishman," "I am American," "I'm Indian." "You say I'm not this body." So very difficult task. The Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, to push on, requires great patience, perseverance, tolerance. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu's order,

tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31]

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

So those who have taken to Kṛṣṅa consciousness preaching work, they should always know that things are not going to happen so easily. Māyā is very, very strong. Very, very strong. But still, we have to struggle against māyā. It is a declaration of war with the māyā. Māyā is keeping the living entities under her control, and we are trying to save the living entity from her un... That is the difference. Kālo vaśī-kṛta-visṛjya-visarga-śaktiḥ. This śakti, visarga-śaktiḥ, is very, very strong, but it is under the control. Although it is very str.., she is very, very strong, but she is under the control of Kṛṣṅa. Mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10].

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

Although prakṛti is acting so wonderfully, very, very, I mean to say, great task she is performing, that immediately the cloud comes. Now it is so bright. Within a second a very big, dark cloud may come and cause devastation immediately. That is possible. These are the wonderful activities of māyā. But still, she is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We see this sun so big, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and you see morning, how quickly it gets up, like this, immediately. The speed is sixteen thousand miles per second. So how it is being happened? Yasyājñayā bhramati saṁbhṛta-kāla-cakro govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajā... [Bs 5.52].

[The sun who is the king of all the planets, full of infinite effulgence, the image of the good soul, is as the eye of this world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in pursuance of whose order the sun performs his journey mounting the wheel of time.]

It is being done under the order of Govinda. So therefore He's vibhu. He is great. But we do not know how great He is. Therefore we foolishly accept some pretender, some fraud, as God. We do not know what is the meaning of God. But it is going on. We are fools. Andhā yathāndair upanīyamānās. We are blind, and another blind man lead us: "I am God. You are God. Everyone is God." But God is not like that.

Here it is said that God is He who... Kālo vaśī-kṛta-visṛjya-visarga-śaktiḥ: "He keeps control over the time factor and the creative energy." That is God. God is not so cheap that you'll find here and there. God is everywhere, that's a fact. But that is partial manifestation of His material energy. This is... Ekāṁśena sthito jagat.

athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna vistabhya aham... ekāṁśena sthito jagat [Bg 10.42]

[But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.]

He's there. Aṅḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṅu-cayāntara-stham [Bs 5.35].

[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]

He is within the atom. So when the same God, sa tvam, He comes, the foolish persons, they think that "Kṛṣṅa is like one of us." No. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

One who thinks like that, that "Kṛṣṅa is one of us. He is like a human being, like me or you," he is mūḍha. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto [Bg 9.11]. He does not know what are the activities of God, what He can do, what He can undo.

So anyway, if by reading all these literatures, explanation given by God Himself, we come to our senses that He is so great and so merciful, then it becomes possible to surrender unto Him. So for a fortunate person it takes even a second, because God Himself says,

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi... [Bg 18.66]

So if one is intelligent, he takes immediately: "Oh, it is so nice. He'll give me all protection? Let me surrender." Business finished in one second. But if he's a rascal, he wants to search out, make research work, then bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg 7.19]:

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

after many many births it will take. So best thing is, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, prapannam. Arjuna says, prapannam, śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg 2.7].

[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]

This is wanted. Be surrendered to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, and be saved from these clutches of māyā.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]