Uncover The Cloud To See Krishna
So if you smear your eyes with love of Godhead, then you will see God always. Santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti. Yes. So devotion. So this is the way of understanding God. By service, by enhancing love… This love can be increased only by service. Otherwise there is no possibility. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. The more you increase your service spirit, the more you increase your dormant love of God.
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 13-15 — Lecture: Los Angeles, May 18, 1970
Prabhupada: Everyone feeling all right?
Devotees: Yes, Prabhupada. Jaya!
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. Page 65, Mantra 13. (chants mantra etc.)
anyad evahuh sambhavad
anyad ahur asambhavat
iti susruma dhiranam
ye nas tad vicacaksire
Then Mantra 14, (page) 72. (devotees chant mantra etc.)
sambhutim ca vinasam ca
yas tad vedobhayam saha
vinasena mrtyum tirtva
sambhutyamrtam asnute
Then Mantra 15, (devotees chant mantra etc.)
hiranmayena patrena
satyasyapihitam mukham
tat tvam pusann apavrnu
satya-dharmaya drstaye
“O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.”
Here is Vedic evidence. This Isopanisad is Veda, part of the Yajur Veda. So here it is said, hiranmayena patrena satyasya apihitam mukham. Just like the sun. There is, in the sun planet, there is a predominating Deity whose name is Vivasvan. We get it, this information we get from Bhagavad-gita. Vivasvan manave praha. So in every planet there is a predominating Deity.
Just like in your this planet, if not Deity, somebody like president there is. Formerly, there was only one king on this planet, up to Maharaja Pariksit. One king was. There was only one flag ruling over this whole planet. Similarly, in every planet there is a predominating Deity. So here it is said that the supreme predominating Deity is Krsna, in the spiritual, in the topmost planet in the spiritual sky. This is material sky. In the material sky this is one of the universes. There are millions and trillions of universes. And within this universe there are millions and trillions of planets. Yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti [Bs. 5.40]. Jagad-anda. Jagad-anda means universe. Anda: just like an egg, this whole universe. So koti. Koti means hundreds and thousands.
So in the brahmajyoti there are hundreds and thousands of these universes, and within this universe there are hundreds and thousands and thousands, unlimited number of Vaikunthas, planets. Each Vaikuntha planet is predominated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Except in the Krsna planet, all other Vaikuntha planets, they are predominated by Narayana, and each Narayana has got different names, some of which we know. Like just we utter Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Sankarsana… We have got twenty-four names only, but there are many others. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33].
So these planets are covered by the brahmajyoti effulgence. So here it is prayed that hiranmayena patrena satyasya apihitam. Apihitam means covered. Just like you cannot see the sun globe on account of this dazzling sunshine, similarly, the Krsna planet, here you have the picture. From the Krsna planet the effulgence is coming out. So one has to penetrate this effulgence. That is being prayed here. Hiranmayena patrena satyasya. The real Absolute Truth, Krsna, His planet is covered by the Brahman effulgence. So the devotee is praying, “Kindly move it. Wind it so that I can see You really.” So brahmajyoti, the Mayavada philosophers, they do not know that beyond brahmajyoti there is anything. Here is the Vedic evidence, that the brahmajyoti is just like golden effulgence. Hiranmayena patrena. This is covering the real face of the Supreme Lord. Tat tvam pusann apavrnu. So, “You are sustainer, You are maintainer. Kindly uncover this so that we can see You actually, Your face.”
The idea is that Krsna planet or the Vaikuntha planets, they are beyond this Brahman effulgence, and those who are devotees, they are permitted to enter into these spiritual planets. Those who are not devotees, simply jnanis or demons… The jnanis and demons, they are offered the same place. The jnanis… Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah [SB 10.2.32]. They practice severe austerities, penances, to enter into the Brahman effulgence. But the demons, simply by becoming enemy of Krsna, they immediately get that place. The demons who are killed by Krsna, they are immediately transferred to this Brahman effulgence. So just imagine, the place which is given to the enemies of Krsna, is that very covetable thing?
Suppose if somebody comes who is my enemy, I give him some place, and somebody, my intimate friend, I give him some other place. Similarly, this Brahman effulgence is not at all covetable. Therefore Prabodhananda Sarasvatipada, he has composed a verse, that Brahman… Kaivalyam narakayate. Kaivalya means the Brahman effulgence, simply spiritual light. So kaivalyam narakayate. He says that this Brahman effulgence is just like hell. For a devotee, this Brahman… The jnanis who are trying to merge into the Brahman effulgence, for devotee it is stated as hell. Kaivalyam narakayate. Tri-dasa-pur akasa-puspayate. And tri-dasa-pur means the planets of the demigods within this material world. People are very much anxious to go into the heavenly planet. That is called tri-dasa-pur or tri-dasa-pur, the residential quarters of the demigods. And for a devotee it is understood as will-o’-the-wisp, akasa-puspayate. And durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali protkhata-damstrayate. And the yogis, they are trying to control the senses, which are considered as venomous serpents, the senses. That’s a fact.
So the bhakta says that “We are not afraid of the senses.” Why? Protkhata-damstrayate. Because we have extracted the poison teeth. The senses has got a poison teeth. As soon as you indulge in sense gratification, immediately you become degraded. Immediately. So it is just like a venomous serpent. As soon as touches you, little biting, finished your life. So it is like that. Durdanta-kala-sarpa-patali, indriya. But these venomous snakes, if their poison teeth is taken away, then it may be fearful for the boys and children. But if an elderly person knows that his poison teeth has been taken away, nobody’s afraid of it. So this Krsna consciousness means that we take away the poison teeth of the senses. So that even Krsna conscious persons are allowed for sense gratification, the poison teeth is broken. So therefore they are not gliding down to the hellish condition of life.
So in this way, either the karmis or the jnanis or the yogis, they are always… They are, every one of them, trying to elevate. And above them is the devotees.
So devotee’s place is the highest because by devotion only you can understand what is God. Bhaktya mam abhijanati [Bg. 18.55], Krsna says. He does not say that “By karma one can understand Me.” He does not say that “By jnana one can understand Me.” He does not say that “By yoga one can understand Me.” He clearly says, bhaktya mam abhijanati: [Bg. 18.55] “Simply by devotional service one can understand Me.” Yavan yas casmi tattvatah. Knowing Him as He is, that is bhakti. So except devotional service, there is no possibility of understanding the Absolute Truth. Any other process means covered.
Just like the… You understand the sun planet from here. You are seeing the sun planet, that’s a fact, but that does not mean you know what is actually the sun planet is, because you have no access to approach there. You may speculate, that’s all. Speculation means the blind man seeing the elephant. Somebody thought, “Oh, it is just like a pillar.” Yes. Big, big legs. Somebody understood the trunk. Somebody understood the ears, elephant. There is a story, some blind men studying the elephant. So they were giving different conclusions. Somebody: “The elephant is just like a pillar.” Somebody says, “Elephant is just like big boat.” Somebody is… Somebody is… But actually what is elephant, if you have no eyes to see, you can go on speculating. Therefore it is here said that pusann apavrnu. “Please uncover the covering. Then I can see You.”
So that seeing power is the bhakta’s, the devotee’s, because Krsna certifies, bhaktya mam abhijanati [Bg. 18.55]. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti [Bs. 5.38]. Those who have developed love of Godhead by that ointment, prema, ointment… Just like sometimes… In India it is very… They have got some… What is called? Surma? Ungent, surma. Yes. If you apply that surma your sight becomes bright immediately. So if you smear your eyes with love of Godhead, then you will see God always. Santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti. Yes. So devotion. So this is the way of understanding God. By service, by enhancing love… This love can be increased only by service. Otherwise there is no possibility. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. The more you increase your service spirit, the more you increase your dormant love of God. And as soon as you are in the perfectional stage of love of God, you see God always, every moment. Twenty-four hours you can see.
Thank you very much.
Devotees: All glories to Prabhupada. (end)
About the Author
HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founded the Hare Krishna Movement in 1966 in New York. In only 11 years he spread the movement all over the world. He wrote more than 80 books including Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Isopanisad. Prabhupada's books constitute a complete library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.
krishna doesnt come to me. i hv pleaded so many times. if He dsnt come, i cant meet Him. His will can only make this happen. Y is he so stubborn. Y doesnt He come to me
Hare Krishna Jess
Devotee is not thinking like this, that Krishna should come to me. Devotee is thinking always how to serve his spiritual master. That is all. The only way we will ever be able to see Krishna is if we please our pure devotee bona fide spiritual master. There is no other way. You can not approach Krishna directly. You have to please the servant of Krishna, in that way Krishna is pleased.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna,
Many a times everywhere I have read that if one wants to follow the spiritual path then he has to go under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. Then only we can actually understand the true meaning of krishna consciousness and follow the spiritual path.
But in todays world do we able to find the right person as our guru whom we can totally trust upon. As there are many gurus…daily we see on tv and newspapers….but do they really guide us in the right path … as many people i have heard saying they all are just doing business and can guide you to the wrong path as well.
Plz suggest how to find a real guru so that we can progress spiritually.
Yes. Virtually all the ‘gurus’ you see on the TV and in the newspapers are bogus and are just in the ‘guru business’ trying to make money out of it. So they will all guide you in the wrong direction.
If you want the proper guidance please read Srila Prabhupada’s books. You will find your guru there.
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji,
All glories to guru and gauranga
Prabhu I saw a video of radhakund cleaning and saw devotees done tilak of the radhakund mud. Once when I was in vrindavan ISKCON, I saw some devotees wearing black tilak. I googled it and got to know the auspiciousness of radhakund tilak. I know about gopi Chandan as well, and it’s auspiciousness, so what’s better for advancement? Can I also apply it, or higher level devotees apply it?
I am very curious to know! Please advise.
All respects to you!
Hare Krishna 🙂
Hare Krishna Vanshika
Yes, you can apply Radha-Kund tilak if you like but we follow the param-para. We follow what Srila Prabhupada instructs us to do. And he, and of course he is repeating what the great acharayas in the disciplic succession have recommended, tells us to apply gopi-chandan. So that is what we do. We apply gopi-chandan. Not Radha-Kunda tilak.
So we apply gopi-chandan…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna prabhu
All glories to guru and gauranga
Thankyou for your guidance, i’ll continue with gopi chandan only, i’ll never go against prabhupad, i’ll do what he instructs.
Thankyou very much
Hari bol… 🙂
Hare Krishna Vanshika
Yes. It is the path to success for sure. To strictly follow in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada. There are so many people, devotees also, who will constantly be advising us to do something else. Quoting the scriptures and previous acharyas to try and convince us to do things differently to the way Srila Prabhupada is teaching us to do them.
And the way it is is that of course there are many different presentations of spiritual life and it is not that necessarily one way is right and the other way is wrong. It may be that they are both right. But that is not the point. Srila Prabhupada is our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada is the one who is, through his books and other recorded vani, instructing us in Krishna consciousness and delivering the pure teachings of Krishna and Lord Caitanya to us. So as followers of Srila Prabhupada we have to follow Prabhupada. We can not follow anyone else.
So sometimes there may appear to be some contradiction to us between what Srila Prabhupada says and what other devotees are saying we should do but we have to stick to following Srila Prabhupada. There are so many things in ISKCON they have changed to ways that are totally different from the way that Prabhupada is teaching us to do these things. For example Prabhupada teaches us that we can not directly offer anything to Krishna. We offer everything to Krishna through the disciplic succession. It means we cook an offering for Srila Prabhupada and then we offer it to Srila Prabhupada and he offers it to Srila Bhaktsiddhanta and he offers it to his spiritual master and in this way the offering goes to Krishna through the disciplic succession. This is a very fundamental and essential point to understand but ISKCON totally reject this teaching of Srila Prabhupada and instead they offer directly to Krishna and then offer Srila Prabhupada ‘Krishna prasadam’. But it is not Krishna prasadam because we can not offer directly to Krishna, that is not the way and Krishna does not accept in this way.
So we can not do this. We can not reject the teachings of Srila Prabhupada in so many ways and invent our own concocted way of doing things and still claim to be disciples of Srila Prabhupada. We have to surrender to Srila Prabhupada, have faith in Srila Prabhupada, that he is the manifestation of Krishna for us and that his words are not different from us hearing directly from Krishna. So surrender means we have to follow the orders of Srila Prabhupada. Not think we are more intelligent than Srila Prabhupada and adjust everything because we are so smart…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thanx prabhu!
That’s what I wanted to hear, I totally got it, so good to hear this!
I am very lucky to have you as my shiksha guru!
HARI HARI BOL… SRI RADHEY.. :))
“O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.”
Who can say they have realised this far?
The Brahmajyoti as the hare krsnas called it is the Supreme… It is the Impersonal Light of the Universe, it is God.
Anything bound to a form of anykind is by its very nature LIMITED.
Light is formless and infinite, beyond time and space.
The effulgence cannot be removed to show some all-powerful God. That would be silly. The Effulgence is itself God.
It seems to me that the reason people get hung up on the idea of a personal form of God is because they are actually scared of God- Because God is formless.
People like to remain comfortable with what they know already and serving some all powerful Krsna on a spiritual planet seems safe to them.
Realising God is not all happiness… There is a huge amount of turmoil and suffering to go through, “dark night of the Soul” etc. and after it all from what I can see you end up fairly lonely because people cannot understand you or what you have experienced.
I’ll end here by saying this: ANYTHING that has a form is LIMITED..
GOD is UNLIMITED.. Logically work out the rest 😉
om,
please resd the following link
http://www.asitis.com/12/1.htm
also read this
http://vedabase.net/bg/14/27/
It is our limited sense of perception that we find anything which has a form is limited. God has a personal form, yet He is unlimited. This is His potency. When we His part and parcel have a form, how can He the supreme doesnt have a form?
Soul is already going through “dark night” and will continue to do so until we know God in His eternally blissful, all-knowledgeable form.
HI, Waiting for the reply to above comment.
Sorry for the delay in replying Anurag Prabhu, it is a very good question.
As you say it is quite a confusing world out there and there are as many “spiritual” philosophies, all claiming to be based on Bhagavad Gita, as there are spiritual gurus on television.
The answers to these important questions, like what will happen to us after death, this is not something that a “normal working class human” can understand in a few minutes. There is a process to understand this knowledge and if one wants to understand these subtle spiritual points he has to be prepared to accept the process. It is not just intellectual book knowledge. This knowledge has to be
realized.
The process to realize this knowledge is called saddhana bhakti, it means following the rules and regulations under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master in the disciplic succession. So the only we we can actually understand these points and be completely certain that we know what is going to happen to us after death is by following this process of saddhana bhakti.
I am gradually explaining this process on the Krishna Connect newsletter so if you are not subscribed I would recommend you subscribe to this newsletter and go through the information systematicly.
What you have noticed, so many spiritual gurus preaching so many contradictory and confusing things is the nature of the jnanis. A jnani is a mental speculator. He wants to make his own philosophy, and his philosophy has to be different from everyone else’s philosophy. Practically all of the translations of Bhagavad Gita have been made with this mentality by an author who wants to present his own concocted ideas, his own philosophy, through the Bhagavad Gita.
But this is not honest. Bhagavad Gita is Krishna’s book and in Krishna’s book you should find Krishna’s philosophy. But sadly for most translations of the Gita this is not the case at all. People take advantage of Krishna like this. Bhagavad Gita is famous, so they think that if I write a book myself no one will be interested but if I comment on Bhagavad Gita everyone is interested in Gita…
So this cheating in the name of Krishna has been going on for a long time now and it is very difficult to find a Bhagavad Gita that actually presents Krishna’s ideas, Krishna’s philosophy.
But in this ocean of confusion, there is one Bhagavad Gita which is special, one Bhagavad Gita that stands out from all the others. That is Bhagavad Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda. This is because unlike practically all the other commentators on the Gita, Srila Prabhupada is not using the Gita to present his own ideas. He is simply letting Krishna speak.
So the reason you are confused is you have heard from so many of these bogus commentators on Bhagavad Gita but that confusion can be cleared away very quickly if you can actually hear the real message of Bhagavad Gita as Krishna intended it from a pure devotee of Krishna.
So Anurag please make a serious study of Srila Prabhuapda’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is and let me know your questions as you go along and I can try and give some answers also. But everything will be cleared up when you hear Krishna through His pure representative in the disciplic succession.
This is the key to understand everything. You have to hear from the right person. If you can find the right person he can explain everything to you very clearly and you will understand everything correctly and without confusion. But as I said there is process to understand these things and that process is saddhana bhakti and it has to be learnt.
It is like if you want to become a doctor you can not just ask a few questions and become a doctor and start treating patients. No. There is a process, you have to be accepted by the medical school, you have to study all the subjects and pass the exams, you have to be approved by the medical association, there are so many things, just to become a doctor. So as there is a process for becoming a doctor, there is also a process for become a devotee of Krishna and for getting the actual knowledge of what happens after death.
Hare Krishna,
I have read the “Bhagvad Gita As it is”. Infact this is the only GITA I have read.
In it there is interpretation that we are a very small dot of energy which is so small that it is invisible when it leaves the body. I dont have the number of the verse with me right now.
So my question to you is that are we just an invisible dot of energy that travels to another planets.
Hare Krishna
Anurag
Yes, you are right Anurag Prabhu, there is a verse like that in the Bhagavad Gita. Srila Prabhupada describes this in Bg Chapter 2, Text 17, you can read about it there. There Prabhuapda quotes a verse from Svetesvara Upanishad, “kesagra sata bhagasya…” It is described there that the dimension of the soul is smaller than the tip of a hair if it was split into 10,000 pieces. And we are that tiny dot of energy, and it is that tiny dot of energy which leaves the body at the time of death and which travels to the womb of our next mother where we will take birth again.
This point is very nicely explained and explored in Srila Prabhuapda’s “Easy Journey to Other Planets.” Please read this book. You will find it very interesting. You can find it online at:
http://prabhupadabooks.com/?g=156035
Hare Krishna,
Have 2 questions on your reply:
What about those great souls who get liberated. Since they wont come back to material world, what happens to those souls?
Also what about numerous Near Death Experiences (NDE) where people have actually seen themselves outside their body with a feeling that they were having a floating body. None of the so many NDEs which I have read say that we are just a tiny dot of energy. Why are they differing in their views and not a single one saying we are a tiny dot of energy. Any idea?
Will await your reply.
Hare Krishna Anurag
The soul is a very small point, less than the size of one ten thousandth of the tip of a hair. That is confirmed in a number of Vedic scriptures so we have to accept it. Because the soul is small like that does not mean he is not a person. He is still an individual. As far as the NDE’s you may be aware that there are three bodies, the gross material body, that is the body we see when we look in the mirror made of earth, water, fire, air and ether; then we also have the subtle body which is also material but more subtle. Subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and [false] ego. And underneath these two coverings, gross material body and subtle material body, we find the spirit soul. That tiny point that we are speaking about. In the case of a NDE the person leaves his gross material body in his subtle material body which is mind, intelligence and false ego. That is the “floating body” that you are taking about that the NDE people experience. Although they are out of the gross material body they are still in the subtle material body. So that is what a ghost is. A soul in a subtle material body. So these ghosts in the NDE state also have no idea actually what they are. They are still covered by the subtle body.
In reality we actually have an original, eternal, spiritual body. That is there within the tiny spark but not manifest. When we go back home, back to Godhead, we will not be a tiny spiritual spark, we will be an eternal living entity engaged in Krishna’s pastimes in the spiritual world. And in that spiritual body everything we experience in the material world in relation to individuality, feelings, desires, personality, thinking, feeling, willing, etc, it is all there in its original pure spiritual form in our eternal spiritual body.
So ultimately we are not a tiny spark of light, but that is the form the soul takes within the material body. And the soul is described as being so small to show that one can not actually see the soul in the material body. Because he is so tiny.
Hare Krishna,
Again a query 🙂 the commentary above speaks of spiritual planets where we go after death in this world but who has seen them. How would someone involved in Krishna Consciousness convince a normal working class human being about this.
Because today we have so many spiritual gurus – some saying we are just a drop of light & we go & merge into bigger light after death (which to me seems a bit like loosing our identity altogether). some say we are just consciousness and go into different plain after death.
how can we reach on one conclusion as to what happens after death. today we have as many views as spiritual gurus on television.
i guess i am atleast confused on what will happen with me after death.
awaiting reply
Anurag