TWO BIRDS IN A TREE - SOUL AND SUPERSOUL

Dedicated to my spiritual master His Divine Grace Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami 'Srila Prabhupada'

Introduction
In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna Himself says that every living entity is an individual spirit soul. The soul or jiva or atma is seated in the heart along with the Supersoul or Paramatma. The jiva is driven by the 3 modes of material nature and acts accordingly while the Paramatma seated near-by is witnessing and sanctioning all the activities of the individual soul.

Soul and Supersoul

The Vedas, like the Mundaka Upanisad & Svetasvatara Upanisad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Krishna) is simply watching His friend. Although the two birds are the same in quality, yet one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. This witnessing bird is Lord Krishna Himself, and the bird eating the fruits is Jivatma. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of his changing his position from one tree to another or from one body to another. The jiva or soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master - as Arjuna agreed to do so by voluntary surrender unto Krishna for instruction on the battlefield - the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations.

Both the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.2) and Svetasvatara Upanisad (4.7) confirm this:

samane vrkse puruso nimagno

'nisaya socati muhyamanah

justam yada pasyaty anyam isam

asya mahimanam iti vita-sokah

"Although the two birds are in 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 from all anxieties."

Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra submitted to turn his face towards his eternal friend, Krishna. Accepting Him as the Supreme Lord and as a spiritual master he thus understood the Bhagavad-gita. Hearing from Krishna, he could understand the supreme glories of the Lord and was freed from lamentation. BG 2.22. This Bhagavad Gita is meant for all living entities.

Conclusion

The conditioned soul, the living entity, is controlled by the laws of nature, while the Paramatma, or the Supersoul, is the controller of the material energy. SB 1.2.31. The fruit-eater (living entity) in the process has forgotten his real identity and is overwhelmed in the fruitive activities of the material conditions, but the Lord (Paramatma) is always full in transcendental knowledge. That is the difference between the Supersoul and the conditioned soul. Hare Krishna!

Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada


Dr Jagadeesh TG

Prabhupada Dasa/ RadhaKrishna Sevak
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GOD IS A PERSON & WE ARE ALL ETERNALLY INDIVIDUALS

Dedicated to my spiritual master His Divine Grace Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami 'Srila Prabhupada'


Introduction
 na tv evaham jatu nasam

na tvam neme janadhipah

na caiva na bhavisyamah

sarve vayam atah param

Bg 2.12

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be – Lord Krishna

God is an individual - a person
The Mayavadi theory that after liberation the individual soul, separated by the covering of maya, or illusion, will merge into the impersonal Brahman and lose its individual existence is not supported herein by Lord Krsna, the supreme authority. Nor is the theory that we only think of individuality in the conditioned state supported herein. Krsna clearly says herein that in the future also the individuality of the Lord and others, as it is confirmed in the Upanisads, will continue eternally. This statement of Krsna's is authoritative because Krsna cannot be subject to illusion. If individuality were not a fact, then Krsna would not have stressed it so much-even for the future. The Mayavadi may argue that the individuality spoken of by Krsna (in Bg 2.12) is not spiritual, but material. Even accepting the argument that the individuality is material, then how can one distinguish Krsna's individuality? Krsna affirms His individuality in the past and confirms His individuality in the future also. He has confirmed His individuality in many ways, and impersonal Brahman has been declared to be subordinate to Him. Krsna has maintained spiritual individuality all along; if He is accepted as an ordinary conditioned soul in individual consciousness, then His Bhagavad-gita has no value as authoritative scripture.

Conclusion

If individuality refers to the empirical universe, then there is no need of teaching by the Lord. The plurality of the individual soul and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it is confirmed by the Vedas as above mentioned.

 
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada


Dr Jagadeesh TG - Prabhupada Dasa/ RadhaKrishna Sevak
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THE METHOD OF ATTAINING THE SUPREME DESTINATION

Dedicated to my spiritual master His Divine Grace Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami 'Srila Prabhupada'

Introduction - Suggestions by the Lord

The Lord suggests that we attain the spiritual world in the following manner (Bg. 15.5):

nirmana-moha jita-sanga-dosa

adhyatma-nitya vinivrtta-kamah

dvandvair vimuktah sukha-duhkha-samjnair

gacchanty amudhah padam avyayam tat

That padam avyayam, or eternal kingdom, can be reached by one who is nirmana-moha. What does this mean? We are after designations. Someone wants to become "sir," someone wants to become "lord," someone wants to become the president or a rich man or a king or something else. As long as we are attached to these designations, we are attached to the body, because designations belong to the body. But we are not these bodies, and realizing this is the first stage in spiritual realization.

Easy approach to the Supreme Abode

We are associated with the three modes of material nature, but we must become detached through devotional service to the Lord. If we are not attached to devotional service to the Lord, then we cannot become detached from the modes of material nature. Designations and attachments are due to our lust and desire, our wanting to lord it over the material nature. As long as we do not give up this propensity of lording it over material nature, there is no possibility of returning to the kingdom of the Supreme, the sanatana-dhama. That eternal kingdom, which is never destroyed, can be approached by one who is not bewildered by the attractions of false material enjoyments, who is situated in the service of the Supreme Lord. One so situated can easily approach that supreme abode.

Avyakta - The Unmanifested

Elsewhere in the Gita (8.21) it is stated:

avyakto 'ksara ity uktas

tam ahuh paramam gatim

yam prapya na nivartante

tad dhama paramam mama

Avyakta means unmanifested. Not even all of the material world is manifested before us. Our senses are so imperfect that we cannot even see all of the stars within this material universe. In Vedic literature we can receive much information about all the planets, and we can believe it or not believe it. All of the important planets are described in Vedic literatures, especially Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the spiritual world, which is beyond this material sky, is described as avyakta, unmanifested. One should desire and hanker after that supreme kingdom, for when one attains that kingdom, he does not have to return to this material world.

Our state at the end of our life - Its effect

Next, one may raise the question of how one goes about approaching that abode of the Supreme Lord. Information of this is given in the Eighth Chapter. It is said there:

anta-kale ca mam eva

smaran muktva kalevaram

yah prayati sa mad-bhavam

yati nasty atra samsayah

"And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me, attains immediately to My nature; and there is no doubt of this." [Bg. 8.5] One who thinks of Krsna at the time of his death goes to Krsna. One must remember the form of Krsna; if he quits his body thinking of this form, he surely approaches the spiritual kingdom. Mad-bhavam refers to the supreme nature of the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1] -- that is, His form is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. Our present body is not sac-cid-ananda. It is asat, not sat. It is not eternal; it is perishable. It is not cit, full of knowledge, but it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, nor do we even have perfect knowledge of this material world, where there are so many things unknown to us. The body is also nirananda; instead of being full of bliss it is full of misery. All of the miseries we experience in the material world arise from the body, but one who leaves this body thinking of Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, at once attains a sac-cid-ananda body.

Conclusion - The Last Word

The process of quitting this body and getting another body in the material world is also organized. A man dies after it has been decided what form of body he will have in the next life. Higher authorities, not the living entity himself, make this decision. According to our activities in this life, we either rise or sink. This life is a preparation for the next life. If we can prepare, therefore, in this life to get promotion to the kingdom of God, then surely, after quitting this material body, we will attain a spiritual body just like the Lord's.

Ref - Teachings of Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada Dasa
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SANATANA DHARMA IS NOT SECTARIAN

Dedicated to my spiritual master His Divine Grace Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami 'Srila Prabhupada'

SANATANA DHARMA - THE ETERNAL OCCUPATION OF A LIVING BEING

Introduction - The perfection of human life
The Supreme Lord and His transcendental abode are both sanatana, as are the living entities, and the combined association of the Supreme Lord and the living entities in the sanatana abode is the perfection of human life.

Krishna - The Supreme Father
The Lord is very kind to the living entities because they are His sons. Lord Krsna declares in Bhagavad-gita, sarva-yonisu. .. aham bija-pradah pita: "I am the father of all." Of course there are all types of living entities according to their various karmas, but here the Lord claims that He is the father of all of them. Therefore the Lord descends to reclaim all of these fallen, conditioned souls, to call them back to the sanatana eternal sky so that the sanatana living entities may regain their eternal sanatana positions in eternal association with the Lord. The Lord comes Himself in different incarnations, or He sends His confidential servants as sons or His associates or acaryas to reclaim the conditioned souls.

Sanatana dharma - The eternal function
Therefore, sanatana-dharma does not refer to any sectarian process of religion. It is the eternal function of the eternal living entities in relationship with the eternal Supreme Lord. Sanatana-dharma refers, as stated previously, to the eternal occupation of the living entity. Sripada Ramanujacarya has explained the word sanatana as "that which has neither beginning nor end," so when we speak of sanatana-dharma, we must take it for granted on the authority of Sripada Ramanujacarya that it has neither beginning nor end.

The English world religion is a little different from sanatana-dharma. Religion conveys the idea of faith, and faith may change. One may have faith in a particular process, and he may change this faith and adopt another, but sanatana-dharma refers to that activity which cannot be changed. For instance, liquidity cannot be taken from water, nor can heat be taken from fire. Similarly, the eternal function of the eternal living entity cannot be taken from the living entity. Sanatana-dharma is eternally integral with the living entity. When we speak of sanatana-dharma, therefore, we must take it for granted on the authority of Sripada Ramanujacarya that it has neither beginning nor end. That which has neither end nor beginning must not be sectarian, for it cannot be limited by any boundaries. Those belonging to some sectarian faith will wrongly consider that sanatana-dharma is also sectarian, but if we go deeply into the matter and consider it in the light of modern science, it is possible for us to see that sanatana-dharma is the business of all the people of the world -- nay, of all the living entities of the universe.

Non-sanatana religious faith may have some beginning in the annals of human history, but there is no beginning to the history of sanatana-dharma, because it remains eternally with the living entities. Insofar as the living entities are concerned, the authoritative sastras state that the living entity has neither birth nor death. In the Gita it is stated that the living entity is never born and he never dies. He is eternal and indestructible, and he continues to live after the destruction of his temporary material body.

Conclusion
In reference to the concept of sanatana-dharma, we must try to understand the concept of religion from the Sanskrit root meaning of the word. Dharma refers to that which is constantly existing with a particular object. We conclude that there is heat and light along with the fire; without heat and light, there is no meaning to the word fire. Similarly, we must discover the essential part of the living being, that part which is his constant companion. That constant companion is his eternal quality, and that eternal quality is his eternal religion.

From the teachings of Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada Dasa
RadhaKrishna Sevak
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The Real Soul Doctor - Jagadguru Srila Prabhupada