ṛṣiḥ kāruṇikas tasyāḥ prādād ubhayam īśvaraḥ dharmasya tattvaṁ jñānaṁ ca mām apy uddiśya nirmalam SYNONYMS ṛṣiḥ—the great sage Nārada Muni; kāruṇikaḥ—naturally very affectionate or merciful to the fallen souls; tasyāḥ—to her; prādāt—gave instructions; ubhayam—both; īśvaraḥ—a powerful controller who can do whatever he likes (Nārada Muni); dharmasya—of religion; tattvam—the truth; jñānam—knowledge; ca—and; mām—me; api—especially; uddiśya—indicating; nirmalam—without material contamination. TRANSLATION Nārada Muni delivered his instructions both to me, who was within the womb, and to my mother, who was engaged in rendering him service. Because he is naturally extremely kind to the fallen souls, being in a transcendental position, he gave instructions on religion and transcendental knowledge. These instructions were free from all material contamination. PURPORT Here it is said, dharmasya tattvaṁ jñānaṁ ca. .. nirmalam. The word nirmalam refers to spotless dharma, spotless religion—or, in other words, bhāgavata-dharma. Ordinary ritualistic activities constitute contaminated religion, by which one benefits by developing material wealth and prosperity, but uncontaminated, pure religion consists of understanding one’s relationship with God and acting accordingly, thus fulfilling the highest mission of life and returning home, back to Godhead. Prahlāda Mahārāja advised that one elevate oneself to the standard of bhāgavata-dharma from the very beginning of life (kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1]). The Lord Himself also speaks of pure, uncontaminated religion when He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” (Bg. 18.66) One must understand one’s relationship with God and then act accordingly. This is bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata-dharma means bhakti-yoga. vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam “By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.” (Bhāg. 1.2.7) To be situated on the platform of pure religion, one should perform bhakti-yoga in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva. TEXT 16 tat tu kālasya dīrghatvāt strītvān mātus tirodadhe ṛṣiṇānugṛhītaṁ māṁ nādhunāpy ajahāt smṛtiḥ SYNONYMS tat—that (instruction on religion and knowledge); tu—indeed; kālasya—of time; dīrghatvāt—because of the longness; strītvāt—because of being a woman; mātuḥ—of my mother; tirodadhe—disappeared; ṛṣiṇā—by the sage; anugṛhītam—being blessed; mām—me; na—not; adhunā—today; api—even; ajahāt—left; smṛtiḥ—the memory (of Nārada Muni’s instructions). TRANSLATION Because of the long duration of time that has passed and because of her being a woman and therefore less intelligent, my mother has forgotten all those instructions; but the great sage Nārada blessed me, and therefore I could not forget them. PURPORT In Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) the Lord says: māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye ’pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim “O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me—though they be lowborn, women, vaiśyas [merchants] or śūdras [workers]—can approach the supreme destination.” The word pāpa-yoni refers to those who are less than śūdras, but even though a woman may not be pāpa-yoni, because of being less intelligent she sometimes forgets devotional instructions. For those who are strong enough, however, there is no question of forgetting. Women are generally attached to material enjoyment, and because of this tendency they sometimes forget devotional instructions. But if even a woman practices devotional service strictly, according to the rules and regulations, the statement by the Lord Himself that she can return to Godhead (te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim) is not at all astonishing. One must take shelter of the Lord and rigidly follow the rules and regulations. Then, regardless of what one is, one will return home, back to Godhead. Prahlāda Mahārāja’s mother was more concerned with protecting the child in the womb and was very anxious to see her husband return. Therefore she could not consider very seriously the sublime instructions of Nārada Muni. TEXT 17 bhavatām api bhūyān me yadi śraddadhate vacaḥ vaiśāradī dhīḥ śraddhātaḥ strī-bālānāṁ ca me yathā SYNONYMS bhavatām—of yourselves; api—also; bhūyāt—it may be; me—of me; yadi—if; śraddadhate—you believe in; vacaḥ—the words; vaiśāradī—of the most expert, or in relation with the Supreme Lord; dhīḥ—intelligence; śraddhātaḥ—because of firm faith; strī—of women; bālānām—of small boys; ca—also; me—of me; yathā—just as. TRANSLATION Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: My dear friends, if you can place your faith in my words, simply by that faith you can also understand transcendental knowledge, just like me, although you are small children. Similarly, a woman can also understand transcendental knowledge and know what is spirit and what is matter. PURPORT These words of Prahlāda Mahārāja are very important in regard to knowledge descending by the disciplic succession. Even when Prahlāda Mahārāja was a baby within the womb of his mother, he became fully convinced of the existence of the supreme power because of hearing the powerful instructions of Nārada and understood how to attain perfection in life by bhakti-yoga. These are the most important understandings in spiritual knowledge. yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ [ŚU yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ “Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23) ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ “No one can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him.” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234) bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram “One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Bg. 18.55) These are Vedic instructions. One must have full faith in the words of the spiritual master and similar faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then the real knowledge of ātmā and Paramātmā and the distinction between matter and spirit will be automatically revealed. This ātma-tattva, or spiritual knowledge, will be revealed within the core of a devotee’s heart because of his having taken shelter of the lotus feet of a mahājana such as Prahlāda Mahārāja.6.23] “Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23) ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ “No one can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him.” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234) bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram “One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Bg. 18.55) These are Vedic instructions. One must have full faith in the words of the spiritual master and similar faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then the real knowledge of ātmā and Paramātmā and the distinction between matter and spirit will be automatically revealed. This ātma-tattva, or spiritual knowledge, will be revealed within the core of a devotee’s heart because of his having taken shelter of the lotus feet of a mahājana such as Prahlāda Mahārāja. In this verse the word bhūyāt may be understood to mean “let there be.” Prahlāda Mahārāja offers his blessings to his class friends, saying, “Also become faithful like me. Become bona fide Vaiṣṇavas.” A devotee of the Lord desires for everyone to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unfortunately, however, people sometimes do not have staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master who comes by the disciplic succession, and therefore they are unable to understand transcendental knowledge. The spiritual master must be in the line of authorized disciplic succession, like Prahlāda Mahārāja, who received the knowledge from Nārada. If the class friends of Prahlāda Mahārāja, the sons of demons, were to accept the truth through Prahlāda, they would certainly also become fully aware of transcendental knowledge. The words vaiśāradī dhīḥ refer to intelligence concerning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is extremely expert. The Lord has created wonderful universes by His expert knowledge. Unless one is extremely expert, he cannot understand the expert management of the supreme expert. One can understand, however, if one is fortunate enough to meet a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Mother Lakṣmī or the Kumāras. These four sampradāyas, or disciplic successions of knowledge and transcendence, are called the Brahma-sampradāya, Rudra-sampradāya, Śrī-sampradāya, and Kumāra-sampradāya. Sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te niṣphalā matāḥ. The knowledge of the Supreme received from such a sampradāya, or disciplic succession, can give one enlightenment. If one does not take to the path of disciplic succession, it is not possible for one to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one understands the Supreme Lord through devotional service with faith in the disciplic succession and then advances further, he awakens his natural love for God, and then his success in life is assured.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 15:17:46 +0000
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