Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 15

Here someone may ask: If it is by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that the individual spirit souls are given independence, and if by exercising that independence the souls find only sufferings, then why is that gift of independence considered mercy on the Lord's part?
Fearing that someone would ask this question, the author of the sutras speaks the following words:

Sutra 20
Because by the Lord's mercy they are independent, the individual spirit souls can turn from the Lord and love others in His place.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
To make them powerful and glorious, the Supreme Lord gives independence to the individual spirit souls. Using this independence, the souls may forget the Lord and become attached to the objects of the material senses. That is the meaning. In the Upanisads it is said:
"Entering with the individual soul, I will create the name and form."

============

However, neither the Sri Ishopanishad nor any other Vedic literature recommends that we neglect bodily needs. Bhagavad-gita states:
There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.
~Bhagavad-gita 6:16

Siddhaswarupananda - Jagad Guru Speaks

============

In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.10) it is said:
"A person who is pure in heart attains whatever he desires. He enters whatever he desires. A person who desires auspiciousness should worship such a self-realised soul."

In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.2.2) it is also said:
"One who desires material things is born again to fulfil his desires. A person who attains the Supreme finds that all his desires are fulfilled. All his material desires disappear."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (10.16.34) the Nagapatnis say to Lord Krsna:
"What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 14

To reveal this truth, the author of the sutras speaks the following words:

Sutra 19
Because it restores the soul to its original nature, renunciation of materialism brings liberation.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Misidentification with the material body places the soul in an inauspicious condition, a condition that breeds worthless material desires. By renouncing those material desires, the soul becomes free from the cycle of repeated birth and death. This is so because by that renunciation the soul attains its original nature, which is spiritual and full of bliss. That is the meaning here. This is described in the following words of Taittiriya Upanisad (2.4.1):
"O saintly one, a person who knows spiritual bliss never fears."

In Sandilya's Bhakti-sutra (3.2.93) it is said:
"The soul is both one and different from the Supreme. When he is freed from the material body, the soul is glorious like the sun."

In the Katha Upanisad (1.2.17-18) it is said:
"Taking shelter of the Supreme is the most auspicious activity. Taking shelter of the Supreme is the most auspicious activity. One who takes shelter of the Supreme becomes glorious in the spiritual world.
"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

============

Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge.
~Sri Ishopanishad, Mantra 9
Unfortunately, most of humanity spends the majority of its time in the culture of ignorance. We cultivate ignorance by serving our tongue, belly, genitals, and other senses like obedient slaves. The vast majority of our energy goes into this mad pursuit of sense pleasure. Left with frazzled nerves, frustration, anger, jealousy, envy, greed, hate, loneliness, and confusion; we seek an escape in alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and a myriad of other legal and illegal consciousness dimmers. This is the cultivation of ignorance.

Science of Identity Foundation - Siddhaswarupananda

============

In the Katha Upanisad (1.2.6), Yamaraja says:
"Fools intoxicated by wealth say this world is all and there is no other. These fools will not be glorious in their next birth. Again and again they will come under my grip."

In the Katha Upanisad (1.2.9) it is also said:
"O dear one, the truth cannot be known by material logic. It is known only by learning it from a self-realised soul. Because you are sincere and determined, you have learned the truth. O dear Naciketa. I pray that my other disciples will be like you."

The words of the sages are our bridge to understand the truth. In the Mahabharata (Bhisma-parva 5.22) it is said:
"Anything transcendental to material nature is called inconceivable, whereas arguments are all mundane. Since mundane arguments cannot touch transcendental subject matters, one should not try to understand transcendental subject matters through mundane arguments."

In Sri Vyasa's Vedanta-suta (2.1.11) it is said:
"Transcendental topics cannot be understood by argument or logic."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (1.2.21), Sri Suta Gosvami explains:
"Thus the knot in the heart is pierced, and all misgiving are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the Self as the master."

Liberation is described in these words of Srimad Bhagavatam (2.10.6):
"Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 13

In the next sutra the author describes the root from which desirable and undesirable kinds of love have grown. He says:

Sutra 17
Love for the Supreme is natural, spiritual and brings the highest bliss. Love for what is not the Supreme is artificial, material and brings only sufferings.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Love for the Supreme is natural, spiritual and brings the highest bliss. Love for what is not the Supreme,, that is to say love for wealth, children, wife, and others, is artificial, material, and brings with it the sufferings of this world of repeated birth and death. That is the meaning here. In the Svetasvatara Upanisad (3.8) it is said:
"By understanding the Supreme one crosses beyond death."

In the Svetasvatara Upanisad (4.5) it is said:
"One unborn soul tries to enjoy the world. Another unborn soul renounces the world."

The Supreme Personality of Godhead advises (Bhagavad-gita 18.66):
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear."

The Supreme Personality of Godhead again declares in Bhagavad-gita (9.29):
"I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him."

============

THE SEARCH FOR WISDOM
The search for wisdom is a great challenge; to act on wisdom is an even greater challenge.

Siddhaswarupananda - Chris Butler Speaks

============

Here someone may ask: If the soul is by nature spiritual and blissful, then how does he come in touch with unwanted material things?
Fearing that someone would ask this question, the author speaks the following words:

Sutra 18
Sufferings are caused by the soul's misidentification with the material body.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Sufferings are caused by the soul's misidentification with the material body. In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
"Identifying with matter, the soul takes birth in a mother's womb."

In the Bhagavad-gita (2.63) the Lord says:
"When intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool."

In the Katha Upanisad (2.3.15) it is said:
"When all the heart's knots are cut, the mortal becomes immortal. That is the teaching of scripture."

In the Isa Upanisad (mantra 3) it is said:
"The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the world of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance."

In Srila Rupa Gosvami's Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu it is said:
"Sin, the root of sin, and ignorance, are the three causes of suffering."

In the Isa Upanisad (mantra 9) it is said:
"Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance."

Thus the sufferings of the individual spirit souls are caused by the soul's misidentification with the material body. When the bonds of that misidentification are cut, then the soul attains liberation.

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 12

After thus describing the true nature of the individual spirit souls, the author of the sutras proceeds to describe the renunciation of all unwanted things. He also describes the means to attain the highest goal in life. He says:

Sutra 16
The conscious spirit souls possess thinking and loving, for these two are part of their nature.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Thinking creates knowledge. Therefore knowledge is part of the soul's nature. Loving creates bliss. Therefore bliss is part of the soul's nature. These are part of the soul's nature.
In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
"Eternity, knowledge and bliss are part of the soul's nature."

In the Vedanta-sutra (4.1.3) it is said:
"The wise know and teach the science of the soul."

============

Perfection means being in tune with reality. The first thing we must understand is reality—the reality of my identity, i.e., my essence, position and function. Who am I? Just as a person does not identify himself as being the shirt that he is wearing, he also should not identify himself with the body that he is wearing.

Siddhaswarupananda - Jagad Guru Speaks

============

In Srimad Bhagavatam (7.7.19), Sri Prahlada declares:
"Atma refers to the Supreme Lord or the living entities, Both of them are spiritual, free from birth and death, free from deterioration, and free from material contamination. They are individual, they are knowers of the external body, and they are the foundation or shelter of everything. They are free from material change, they are self-illuminated, they are the cause of all causes, and they are all-pervading. They have nothing to do with the material body, and therefore they are always uncovered."

In the Visnu Purana, Sri Prahlada declares:
"Fools fall in love with what the material senses see. I am not like them. O Supreme Lord, I have fallen in love with You. I always think of You. I pray that You will never leave my heart."

In Bhagavad-gita (2.24) the Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
"The individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable, and eternally the same."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (10.1.41-42), Vasudeva Maharaja says:
"Having experienced a situation by seeing or hearing about it, one contemplates and speculates about that situation. Similarly, by mental adjustments one dreams at night of living under different circumstances, in different bodies, and forgets his actual position. Under this same process, one gives up his present body and accepts another (tatha dehantara-praptih).
"At the time of death, according to the thinking, feeling and willing of the mind, which is involved in fruitive activities, one receives a particular body. In other words, the body develops according to the activities of the mind. Changes of body are due to the flickering of the mind, for otherwise the soul could remain in its original, spiritual body."

In the Katha Upanisad (2.3.10 and 2.3.6) it is said:
"When the five senses are peaceful, and when the mind and intelligence do not strive for material things, one attains the highest goal of life. This the wise say."
"In the course of life the senses rise and again they set. Aware that he, the soul is different from the senses, a wise person does not grieve."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 11

In the next sutra the author describes the idea that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the individual spirit souls are both one and different simultaneously.

Sutra 14
Some say the individual souls are the Supreme. Others say the individual souls are different from the Supreme. Still others say the individual souls are both one and different from the Supreme.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Badarayana and his followers affirm that the individual souls are the Supreme. Kasyapada and his followers affirm that the individual souls are different from the Supreme. Sandilya and his followers affirm that because the individual souls are part and parcel of the Supreme, the souls are different from the Supreme, and because the souls are part and parcel of the Supreme, the souls are not different from the Supreme. Different kinds of evidence may be produced to support all these different views. For example, in the Upanisads it is said:
"The individual soul is Brahman."

In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.1) and Svetasvatara Upanisad (4.6.) it is said:
"In the individual spirit soul and the Supersoul, Supreme Personality of Godhead, are like two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree (the sense gratification afforded by the material body) and the other bird (the Supersoul) is not trying to eat these fruits, but simply watching His friend."

In the Katha Upanisad (2.2.4) it is said:
"The question is asked: When the embodied souls becomes liberated and leaves his material body behind, who will control him? The answer is: The Supreme still controls him."

============

A famous football player in the United States who recently retired was discussing the particular event that made him decide to quit playing. He had been running with the football toward the goal, with two tacklers chasing him. As his legs started giving out, he thought, “Come on, you old legs—don’t give out on me now!” This is like a race car driver who talks to his car: “Keep on going, Betsy—don’t let me down now!” In other words, you use your body as a type of vehicle; but like all vehicles, it is bound to break down sooner or later.

Science of Identity Foundation - Siddhaswarupananda

============

In the Chandogya Upanisad (3.14.1) it is said:
"This entire world is the Supreme. Therefore a peaceful and saintly person should devote himself to worshipping the Supreme."

In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.4) it is said:
"A sage who understands the Supreme, the life of all that live, will not speak of anyone but Him. Such a sage has fallen in love with the Supreme Lord. He is eager to hear of the Lord's pastimes. He actively serves the Lord. Such a sage is the best of all transcendentalists."

Here someone may say: The conflicting claims of these different philosophies will certainly bewilder the living entities' minds.
Fearing that someone would say this, the author of the sutras proceeds to explain that there is no real conflict among these seemingly conflicting views. They are separate aspects of a singly philosophy. He says:

Sutra 15
All are true, because the evidence of scripture is always true and because the seeming conflict does not bewilder they who know the truth.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
All these sages are correct, because they who know the truth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and understand that these conflicting views are aspects of single philosophy are not bewildered. These differing views are also correct because the previously quoted passages of Sruti-sastra, passages that are evidence for these different views, must all be correct. That is the meaning. In Srimad Bhagavatam (11.22.4) The Supreme Personality of Godhead declares:
"All such philosophers spoke under the shelter of My mystic potency, and thus they could say anything without contradicting the truth."

In the Taittiriya Upanisad (3.1.1) it is said:
"All created beings emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His power they remain alive. They attain Him at the end."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 10

Here someone may protest: Is it not so that the Sruti-sastras declare, "ayam atma brahma" (the individual soul is the Supreme)? Is it not so, then, that the individual spirit souls are not in any way different from the Supreme? Why, then, do you claim that the individual spirit souls are subordinate to and dependent upon the Supreme? Replying to this protest, the author of the sutras reveals the truth. He says:

Sutra 12
They have neither beginning nor end, for they are a specific potency of the Supreme.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
The individual spirit souls have neither beginning nor end, for they are a specific potency of the Supreme, and the potencies of the Lord have neither beginning nor end. In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is like a great fire, and the individual spirit souls are like sparks of that fire."

In the Bhagavad-gita (15.7) the Supreme Personality of Godhead declares:
"The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts."

In the Narada-pancaratra, Lord Siva declares:
"Some sages say that the eternal individual souls have qualities like those of the Lord Himself."

Lord Siva again declares:
"Other sages say that the individual spirit soul is not eternal, that the soul is an illusion, artificial, an imagination, that the soul is like a reflection of sunlight on water, and that, as a reflection eventually disappears, so the individual soul eventually ceases to exist."

In the Bhagavad-gita (7.5-6) the Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
"Besides this inferior nature, O Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.

In the Bhagavad-gita (2.28) the Supreme Personality of Godhead again explains:
"All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there of lamentation?"

In the Katha Upanisad (1.2.18) it is said:
"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

============

PERFECTION – BEING IN TUNE WITH REALITY
The body is yours—but it is not you. The body is a garment that you are wearing, a machine that you are using, a vehicle that you are driving. The body is your possession. Just as a person does not identify himself as being the shirt he is wearing, he also should not identify himself with the body that he is wearing.

Siddhaswarupananda - Chris Bulter Speaks

============

Here someone may say: Since the individual spirit souls are a specific potency of the Lord, they are in all respects one with Him. They are not in any way different from Him.
Concerned that someone may speak in this way, in the next sutra the author emphasises the difference between the individual souls and the Supreme Lord.

Sutra 13
Although they are spiritual and blissful, the individual spirit souls are different from the Supreme, for it is not inevitable that they are always situated in the spiritual reality.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Although they are spiritual and blissful, the individual spirit souls are different from the Supreme. Here is the reason why: it is not inevitable that they are always situated in the spiritual reality. The natural position of the individual spirit souls is to be situated in the spiritual reality. However, it is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself who places them in that spiritual reality. However, for the individual spirit souls it is possible to be place apart from the spiritual reality.
In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the one eternal who controls the many eternals."
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the controller of all existence."
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is greater than the greatest."

In the Bhagavad-gita (2.45), the Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
"O Arjuna, be free from all dualities and be established in the self."

In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.2) and Svetasvatara Upanisad (4.6.) it is said:
"Although the two birds are on the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or other he turns his face to his friend who is the Lord, and knows His glories, at once the suffering bird becomes free of all anxieties."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 9

Chapter Two

Cit-padartha-prakarana
Spirit

Introduction by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Here someone may ask: To whom does the Supreme Personality of Godhead give mercy when He creates the material universes and performs other activities? Why does He give His mercy to these persons?
To answer this question by showing that the Supreme Personality of Godhead creates the material universes and performs many other activities in order to give mercy to the individual spirit souls, and also by showing, using all the Vedanta scriptures as evidence, the true nature of the individual spirit souls, the author of these sutras now begins this chapter, which gives an elaborate definition of the word "cit" (spirit).

Sutra 11
The many conscious beings are followers of the Supreme, for they must obey His commands.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Here the word "cetanah" means "conscious spirit souls". The plural is used here to indicate that the souls are many in number. The word "paranugatah" means that the souls are subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are under His control. This is so because they must obey His commands. In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
"Residing in the heart, the Supreme Personality of Godhead controls the individual living entities.

In the Bhagavad-gita (18.61) it is said:
"The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wandering of all living entities."

============

“You are your body, right? You are chemical in essence ... right? At least, that’s what one of America’s most influential scientists claims:
I am a collection of water, calcium and organic molecules called Carl Sagan. You are a collection of almost identical molecules with a different collective label.*
Like Sagan, most people believe that they are their body. So if you ask them who they are, they think and respond in terms of bodily labels.
“I’m Susan. I’m blond, 29 years old, a mother, and still 36-24-36!”
“I’m Henry. I’m a white American male and proud of it!”
“I’m John. I’m a lawyer. I’m 40 years old and getting older every day.”
“I’m Alice. I’m a female student. I’m fat and I’m a Methodist.”
Name, race, age, sex, religion, nationality, occupation, height, weight, and so on—all these are bodily labels. Therefore if you consider your body to be yourself, you automatically identify yourself with such labels. If your body is fat and ugly, you think, “Woe is me! I am fat and ugly.” If your body is 60 years old and female, you think, ”I am a 60-year-old female.” If your body is black and beautiful, you think, “I am black and beautiful.”
But is the body really the self? Are you really your body?

Siddhaswarupananda - Jagad Guru Speaks
*Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), p. 127

============

In the Narada-pancaratra, Second Night, First Chapter, Lord Sadasiva explains:
"The individual spirit soul, who is like a reflection of the Supreme Lord, suffers and enjoys in the material world. Some sages say that this eternal soul has qualities like those of the Lord Himself."
"Sometimes the individual soul is visible, and sometimes he disappears. When he disappears, he is born again in another body. The soul never dies. He merely travels from one material body to another."

In the Bhagavad-gita (7.5-6) the Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
"Besides this inferior nature, O Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.
"Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both its origin and dissolution."

In the Upanisads it is said:
"O Svetaketu, you are that."

In the Srila Madhvacarya's Tattva-muktavali (text 6) it is said:
"The mayavadi commentator on the Vedanta claimed that the words "tat tvam asi' are the maha-vakya, the most important statement of the Vedas. According to his explanation, 'tat' means 'the Supreme', 'tvam' means 'you', and 'asi' means 'are'. He interpreted the words to mean 'You are the Supreme', and he claimed there is no difference between the Supreme and the individual spirit souls.
"The Vaisnava commentator on Vedanta interpreted these words in a different way, saying that 'tat-tvam' is a possessive compound word (sasthi-tatpurusa-samasa). According to his explanation 'tat' means 'of the Supreme', and the entire sentence means 'you are the servant of the Supreme.' In this way the proper meaning of the scriptural statement is clearly shown."

In the Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka is presented the following opinion held by the devotees of the Lord:
"The word "Vasudeva" means 'the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than the greatest'. The scriptural statement 'sankarsano jivah' means, 'Lord Sankarsana gives life (jivayati) to the individual spirit souls'. These words do not mean that Lord Sankarsana is Himself an individual spirit soul (jiva). Rather, Lord Sankarsana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. This is confirmed by the words 'mamobhe sasvati tanu'. Therefore the conclusion is that Lord Sankarsana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the creator of the individual spirit souls."