SECTION FIFTY SIX    

             The nature of the jéva as a conscious entity is one with the Absolute reality, Brahman, and simultaneously it is a fraction of Brahman. This has just been described from the individual's point of view. The Absolute Reality, Brahman, is the subject of the Çrémad Bhägavatam. The same non-dual Reality, Brahman, is now being described from the aggregate point of view by means of the ten topics that form the characteristics of a Mahä Puräëa, such as Sarga and Visarga. Here Brahman is called the Äçraya,  the Fountainhead of all existence.

            The ten topics are given in the following two verses (SB. 2.10.1,2):

            Here in Çrémad Bhägavatam ten subjects are described: 1. Sarga (Primary creation). 2. Visarga (Secondary creation). 3. Sthäna (Maintenance). 4. Poñaëa (Mercy). 5. Uti (Desires). 6. Manvantara (the period of a Manu). 7. Içänukathä (Pastimes of the Lord and His devotees). 8. Nirodha (annihilation). 9. Mukti (Liberation). 10. Äçraya (Substratum or shelter).The great souls describe the characteristics of the first nine by prayers, and by indirect and direct statements to clarify the meaning of the tenth.

            The phrase manvantareçänukathä is a compound word, from manvantaras and Içänukathä. The Çrémad Bhägavatam describes these ten subjects beginning with Sarga. The real purpose of describing the characteristics of the first nine items is to give a lucid understanding of the tenth. If countered that the description of the nine items do not seem to explain the tenth, then it is replied that this is done by çrutena, by the direct statements uttered in the prayers; aïjasä, by giving direct descriptions; and arthena, by the import of various historical descriptions.

ÇRÉ JÉVA TOÑAËÉ COMMENTARY
 

            In previous sections, Çréla Jéva Gosvämé investigated the faith and spiritual experience of Süta Gosvämé, Çukadeva Gosvämé, and Çréla Vyäsadeva to determine the central subject of the Çrémad Bhägavatam. During this analysis Jéva Gosvämé explained the nature of the jéva. Then he further examines the matter, based on the second verse of the Çrémad Bhägavatam, which declares that the Absolute Reality is the subject matter.  To further define that Reality he refers to the "vadanti tat tattva vidas" verse (1.2.11), which names the three aspects of the one non-dual consciousness. To explain this non-dual consciousness (advya jïäna) Jéva Gosvämé shows that first an understanding of the individual jéva is compulsory. To do this he quotes two verses spoken by Pippaläyana.

            The conclusion is that this knowledge of the jéva forms the basis for understanding Brahman, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The common elements established thus far are that the jéva is conscious, having the ability to know itself and other objects, and  distinct from the material energy, thus devoid of the six types of bodily transformations. Up to now the analysis is vyasti-nirddeça, or from the individual's point of view.   

             Now Çréla Jéva Gosvämé begins explaining Brahman from the aggregate, or samañöi point of view, in terms of the ten topics treated in the twelve cantos of the Bhägavatam. For this he quotes two verses by Çukadeva Gosvämé (2.10.1,2). The second verse states that the purpose of descriptions about creation, maintenance, annihilation, liberation, and so forth is to understand the Lord, because all these features are indicative of the Lord's multifarious potencies. The Lord is the fountainhead of all these phenomena and they are explained in the Çrémad Bhägavatam to illustrate the characteristics of the Lord.  In some places, while describing the other nine items, there are  prayers to the Lord. In these prayers the Lord is the object of description. In some sections, there are direct descriptions of the Lord, as in the dialogue between Vidura and Maitreya, or between Kapila and Devahuti. In other places, the glories of the Lord are indirectly described through historical episodes, such  as the protection of Parékñita Mahäräja from Açvatthämä's atomic weapon, or the captivation of Çukadeva Gosvämé's heart by hearing about the attributes of Lord Kåñëa.

            In this way it is shown that the purpose of the nine subjects described in the Bhägavatam is to explain the tenth, advaya jïäna, called Äçraya, the fountainhead of everything.

            In his analysis Çréla Jéva Gosvämé first uses the individual's internal experience (vyañöi) as the basis for understanding Brahman. Then he uses the indidivual's experience of the external world (samañöi) to establish the same thing. The individual and the material world are the Lord's marginal and external potencies respectively. The Lord is energetic and He is understood by understanding His energies. A person has two types of characteristics, tatastha (marginal) and svarüpa (personal). The Supreme Personality of Godhead also has these characteristics. In the present conditioned state we have no experience of His personal features, His form, color, size, and so on. If we hear descriptions of these most likely we will misconstrue them owing to our strong material conditioning, but the Lord's marginal characteristics that are manifest within the material nature can be understood, either from the aggregate or the individual point of view, because it is within our experience.

            The same approach is used in Vedänta Sütra. Çréla Vyäsadeva, after naming Brahman as the subject in the first sütra, athäto brahma jijïäsä, begins discussing the marginal characteristics of the Lord in the next sütra, janmädyasya yataù, "From Him comes the creation, maintenance, and destruction of the universe."

            Similarly the Çrémad Bhägavatam has ten items and the first nine are explained so we can understand the tenth, the äçraya. This äçraya will be identified as Lord Çré Kåñëa later on. The first nine items deal with the various potencies of the Lord, such as His creative potency, sarga çakti. This helps us to develop a concept of the Lord, the possessor of these potencies. Then His personal features and pastimes are explained in the Tenth Canto. Superficially His form and pastimes seem ordinary; He appears like an ordinary human being endowed with some extraordinary powers. But this is far from the truth. Lord Kåñëa therefore says in the Bhagavad-gétä (9.11): 

"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be." And in contrast to this, in Chapter Four He says:

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."

            For these reasons, Çukadeva explains the first nine items to lead us to the proper understanding of the tenth. The Çrémad Bhägavatam, therefore, should be studied in the order presented, from the first verse onwards. Unfortunately, despite the systematic order of the Bhägavatam for elevating the reader to the highest plane of transcendental vision, unscrupulous persons do not go verse by verse, Canto by Canto. They rather jump to the Tenth Canto without understanding the preliminary nine Cantos. Yet they pose themselves as learned scholars of the Bhägavatam.

            Another failing is that they neglect the mandatory requirement that one must hear the Bhägavatam at the feet of a bonafide guru coming in disciplic succession. Subsequently they again miss the chance to relish properly the ripened fruit of the Vedic tree of knowledge. For all such persons, Lord Kåñëa declares in the Bhagavad-gétä (7.25):

"I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible."

            The most basic requirement in all the Vedic scriptures is that one must approach a bonafide spiritual master and by humble service and submissive inquiry have all the secrets of the Vedic teachings revealed to him. This applies to any sincere student, even if not a great intellectual. The Çvetaçvatara Upanisad (6.28) states therefore:

"Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in and devotion to both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed." Nothing is reavealed without the grace of the spiritual master. Hence to disregard the principle of approaching the spiritual master to understand the Absolute Truth is disregard of the Vedic teachings from the onset and thus one defeats himself from the beginning. Lord Kåñëa confirms this too in Bhagavad-gétä (16.23):

"He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination."

            In the next section, Çréla Jéva Gosvämé begins explaining each of the ten categories by quoting their definition from the Çrémad Bhägavatam.