Srimad Bhagavatam – day 355
King Chitraketu continued, “O Supreme Lord! You are Pure Consciousness. Although intentions that sprout in Your mind emerge from desire, akin to burnt seeds they cannot cause newer births.
This world, which emerges from the activities of the three attributes of Nature (trigunas), causes the living entity to experience dualities such as happiness and sorrows. The day You taught bhāgawata dharma, You illumined brightly. Maharishis who dwell eternally in the Self’s bliss follow bhāgawata dharma solely with the desire of obtaining liberation.
Devotion which is filled with selflessness (niśkāma bhakti) is ‘bhāgawata dharma’. In it there is absolutely no scope for personal gain or for differences such as ‘you and me’ or ‘yours and mine’.
Feelings of separation exist in activities which are tuned towards selfish gains and fulfillment of personal desires (sakāma dharma). The demarcations and differences seen in day to day life are due to this. As it is filled with duality and differences, it is not totally pure. The result it grants is also quickly perishable. Furthermore, is replete with injury (himsa) and other unrighteous or unethical activities.
Activities undertaken purely to fulfill selfish desires ultimately end in pain and suffering to both the person and to others in society. How can any benefit accrue to the person or to others by adopting unrighteous methods? Moreover due to harming his own inner Self, the person distances from God. When devotional services are offered with feelings of selfishness i.e. for fulfillment of selfish desires, the person would have caused harm to others. This is an additional sin.
The perspective with which You preached the selfless bhāgawata dharma is actually very close to the Absolute Truth. Mahatmas who perceive this entire universe filled with moving and non-moving objects to be their Self always preach the selfless bhāgawata dharma.
O Supreme Lord, it is said that with your darshan the human being is freed from every form of sin. These words are undeniably true. This is because even a butcher who once hears Your divine name is freed from the shackles of worldly bondages. With this divine darshan of Yours, O Lord, today my mental impurities have been completely washed out.
The initiation given by Maharishi Nārada, Your ardent devotee, can never go in vain. You, Supreme Essence of this creation, have manifested in the form of this universe. Therefore, o Lord, You will be aware of every activity of every living entity in the creation. You are the father of all fathers. You are the Guru for all Gurus. Just as the light of a glow-worm fades in front of the Sun’s illumination, what is there that I, an ordinary mortal, can say to You?
Namas tubhyaṁ bhagavate sakala-jagat-sthiti-layodayeśāya
Duravasitātma-gataye kuyogināṁ bhidā paramahaṁsāya
O Lord, You are the ruler who controls the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe. People who are filled with feelings of differentiation are unfit to know of Your transcendental existence. Supreme Paramahamsa yogis maintain non-dual relationship with You. O Lord You shower illumination upon the Sun and other celestial stars. I offer obeisance to You.
Brahma and other Prajāpatis conduct their activities based on the dictates of the Supreme Lord Ananta,. He illumines as the Pure Consciousness within all living entities. On the strength of this Consciousness the organs of perception ensure that sound and other sensory perceptions are illumined. This earth rests like a small mustard seed upon His hood. To that Lord who has thousand such hoods I offer obeisance”. In this way Chitraketu, the king of Vidyadharas, glorified the Supreme Lord.
Pleased with his prayer, the Supreme Lord said to him,
“O King, Maharishis Nārada and Angirasa have taught you the procedure to worship me. Through the strength of that initiation and due to the merit of having My darshan today you are now completely accomplished in Supreme transcendental Knowledge.
Ahaṁ vai sarva-bhūtāni bhūtātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ
Śabda-brahma paraṁ brahma mamobhe śāśvatī tanū
I am the Self who resides within every living being. I am the one who causes their existence. I manifest as the Vedas. I also manifest as the Supreme Lord who is known through them. In other words, one is form (roopa) and other is original form (Swaroopa). The Self pervades this universe consisting of names and forms. Within this universe exists the Self. I am the one who pervades them both. Both of them illumine within Me alone.
Knowledge and truth (chit, sat) are My manifestations. This universe consisting of name and form illumines within the Self. Self (atma) pervades through the universe which it illumines. This universe is situated within the Self that ensures its illumination. I am the Absolute eternal Truth who commands them both.
In a dream, the person perceives the world with all its objects within him. Upon waking up he realizes he is a human being who was sleeping in a particular place. Likewise waking, dream and deep sleep states are purely the imaginary creations of the ignorant living entity.
Understand that in reality the Self, who is the witness for all these states, is none other than the Supreme Lord. The spiritual aspirant should eternally remember the Supreme Lord. He should fix his mind completely upon Him.
He should realize that the Pure Consciousness, due to which he has an experience of his deep sleep, is itself the supreme bliss. He should understand that the traitless Supreme Essence (nirguna Parabrahma) has manifested as Me, the Lord with traits (saguna brahma).
In the waking state, the living entity experiences the existence of the world. During sleep he experiences its non-existence. Understand that in both the situations it is only Pure Consciousness that pervades. It means he obtains nirvishesha jnana (absolute non-dual knowledge). This knowledge is distinctly different from the characteristics of the waking and sleep states experienced. This absolute non-dual knowledge (nirvishesha jnana) is referred to as Parabrahma in the Upanishads.
In reality, the living entity does not have any existence separate from Me. However, when he forgets this fact he distances from his original form. With this, he develops attachment towards his gross body and material bondages and thereby obtains one body after another and one death after another.
Labdhveha mānuṣīṁ yoniṁ jñāna-vijñāna-sambhavām
Ātmānaṁ yo na buddhyeta na kvacit kṣemam āpnuyāt
In this creation only a human being has the rare opportunity to understand about the Self and to practically experience his original state. However the living entity, who after getting human birth, fails to understand the Self lacks mental peace. He can never obtain peace”
Adhokshajaya namah