Citraketu, however, was not at all afraid of Pārvatī's curse, and thus he spoke as follows: "Everyone in human society enjoys happiness and distress according to his past deeds and in this way travels in the material world. Therefore no one is responsible for his happiness and distress. One is controlled by the influence of material nature in the material world, yet one thinks himself the doer of everything. In this material world, which is made of the external energy of the Supreme Lord, one is sometimes cursed and sometimes favored, and thus he sometimes enjoys in the upper planetary systems and sometimes suffers in the lower planets, but all these situations are the same because they are within this material world. None of these positions has any factual existence, for all of them are temporary. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate controller because the material world is created, maintained and annihilated under His control while He nonetheless remains neutral to these different transformations of the material world in time and space. The material, external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in charge of this material world. The Lord helps the world by creating situations for the living entities within it."
Factual existence
Expressions researched:
"factual existence"
|"factually He is always existing"
|"factually exist"
|"factually existing"
|"factually experiencing existence"
|"factually in existence"
|"factually the Puranas existed"
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
The law of conservation of energy remains, but in course of time things are manifested and unmanifested—that is the difference. Then what cause is there for lamentation either in the stage of manifestation or in unmanifestation? Somehow or other, even in the unmanifested stage, things are not lost. Both at the beginning and at the end, all elements remain unmanifested, and only in the middle are they manifested, and this does not make any real material difference.
And if we accept the Vedic conclusion as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that these material bodies are perishable in due course of time (antavanta ime dehāḥ) but that the soul is eternal (nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ), then we must remember always that the body is like a dress; therefore why lament the changing of a dress? The material body has no factual existence in relation to the eternal soul. It is something like a dream. In a dream we may think of flying in the sky, or sitting on a chariot as a king, but when we wake up we can see that we are neither in the sky nor seated on the chariot. The Vedic wisdom encourages self-realization on the basis of the nonexistence of the material body. Therefore, in either case, whether one believes in the existence of the soul or one does not believe in the existence of the soul, there is no cause for lamentation for loss of the body.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
Parāśara having stopped the sacrifice, Pulastya, the father of the demons, appreciated his brahminical temperament and gave the blessing that in the future he would be a great speaker on the Vedic literatures called the Purāṇas, the supplements of the Vedas. Parāśara's action was appreciated by Pulastya because Parāśara had forgiven the demons out of his brahminical power of forgiveness. Parāśara was able to demolish all the demons in the sacrifice, but he considered, "Demons are so made that they devour living creatures, men and animals, but why on that account should I withdraw my brahminical qualification of forgiveness?" As the great speaker of the Purāṇas, Parāśara first of all spoke on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata Purāṇa because it is the foremost of all the Purāṇas. Maitreya Muni desired to narrate the same Bhāgavatam be had heard from Parāśara, and Vidura was qualified to hear it because of his faithfulness and his following the instructions received from superiors. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was being narrated from time immemorial by the disciplic succession, even before the time of Vyāsadeva. The so-called historians calculate the Purāṇas to be only a few hundred years old, but factually the Purāṇas existed from time immemorial, before all historical calculations by the mundaners and speculative philosophers.
O my Lord, the material miseries are without factual existence for the soul. Yet as long as the conditioned soul sees the body as meant for sense enjoyment, he cannot get out of the entanglement of material miseries, being influenced by Your external energy.
The whole trouble of the living entity in material existence is that he has an independent conception of life. He is always dependent on the rules of the Supreme Lord, in both the conditioned and liberated states, but by the influence of the external energy the conditioned soul thinks himself independent of the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead. His constitutional position is to dovetail himself with the desire of the supreme will, but as long as he does not do so, he is sure to drag on in the shackles of material bondage. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.55), prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān: he has to give up all sorts of plans manufactured by mental concoction. The living entity has to dovetail himself with the supreme will. That will help him to get out of the entanglement of material existence.
SB Canto 4
It is impossible to conceive of the existence, name, form, quality and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He is transcendentally situated beyond the conception of materialistic persons. Because materialists cannot imagine or conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they may think that God is dead, but factually He is always existing in His sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), His eternal form. Constant meditation concentrated on the form of the Lord is called samādhi, ecstasy or trance. Samādhi means particularly concentrated attention, so one who has achieved the qualification of always meditating on the Personality of Godhead is to be understood to be always in trance and enjoying brahma-nirvāṇa, or brahmānanda. Lord Śiva exhibited those symptoms, and therefore it is stated that he was absorbed in brahmānanda.
Another significant word is yoga-kakṣām. Yoga-kakṣā is the sitting posture in which the left thigh is fixed under one's tightly knotted saffron-colored garment. Also the words manūnām ādyam are significant here because they mean a philosopher, or one who is thoughtful and can think very nicely. Such a man is called manu. Lord Śiva is described in this verse as the chief of all thinkers.
SB Canto 6
"I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda (Kṛṣṇa), who is the original person—absolute, infallible, without beginning, although expanded into unlimited forms, still the same original, the oldest, and the person always appearing as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful, all-knowing forms of the Lord cannot be understood even by the best Vedic scholars, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees." The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no cause, for He is the cause of everything. The Lord is beyond the workings of cause and effect. He is eternally existing. In another verse the Brahma-saṁhitā says, aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham: (Bs. 5.35) the Lord exists within the gigantic universe and within the atom. The descent of the Lord into the atom and the universe indicates that without His presence, nothing could factually exist. Scientists say that water is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, but when they see a vast ocean they are puzzled about where such a quantity of hydrogen and oxygen could have come from. They think that everything evolved from chemicals, but where did the chemicals come from? That they do not know. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of all causes, He can produce immense quantities of chemicals to create a situation for chemical evolution. We actually see that chemicals are produced from living entities. For example, a lemon tree produces many tons of citric acid. The citric acid is not the cause of the tree; rather, the tree is the cause of the acid. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of everything.
SB Canto 7
If we accept the Vedic conclusion as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (antavanta ime dehāḥ) that these material bodies are perishable in due course of time (nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ) but that the soul is eternal, then we must remember always that the body is like a dress; therefore why lament the changing of a dress? The material body has no factual existence in relation to the eternal soul. It is something like a dream. In a dream we may think of flying in the sky or sitting on a chariot as a king, but when we wake up we can see that we are neither in the sky nor seated on the chariot. The Vedic wisdom encourages self-realization on the basis of the nonexistence of the material body. Therefore, in either case, whether one believes in the existence of the soul or one does not believe in the existence of the soul, there is no cause for lamentation for loss of the body.
In the Mahābhārata it is said, adarśanād ihāyātaḥ punaś cādarśanaṁ gataḥ. This statement could support the theory of the atheistic scientist that the child in the womb of the mother has no life but is simply a lump of matter. To follow this theory, if the lump of matter is aborted by a surgical operation, no life is killed; the body of a child is like a tumor, and if a tumor is operated upon and thrown away, no sin is involved. The same argument could be put forward in regard to the King and his queens. The body of the King was manifested from an unmanifested source, and again it became unmanifested from manifestation.
Although one may consider the reflection of the sun from a mirror to be false, it has its factual existence. Accordingly, to prove by speculative knowledge that there is no reality would be extremely difficult.
The impersonalists try to prove that the varieties in the vision of the empiric philosopher are false. The impersonalist philosophy, vivarta-vāda, generally cites the acceptance of a rope to be a snake as an example of this fact. According to this example, the varieties within our vision are false, just as a rope seen to be a snake is false. The Vaiṣṇavas say, however, that although the idea that the rope is a snake is false, the snake is not false; one has experience of a snake in reality, and therefore he knows that although the representation of the rope as a snake is false or illusory, there is a snake in reality. Similarly, this world, which is full of varieties, is not false; it is a reflection of the reality in the Vaikuṇṭha world, the spiritual world.
The reflection of the sun from a mirror is nothing but light within darkness. Thus although it is not exactly sunlight, without the sunlight the reflection would be impossible. Similarly, the varieties of this world would be impossible unless there were a real prototype in the spiritual world.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
For one who is meditating on sense gratification, material life, although lacking factual existence, does not go away, just as the unpleasant experiences of a dream do not.
Although perceived, the transformation of even a single atom of material nature has no ultimate definition without reference to the Supreme Soul. To be accepted as factually existing, something must possess the same quality as pure spirit—eternal, unchanging existence.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So the basic principle... We are under these laws of material nature only for our desire. That is the basic principle. So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we have to change the desire. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Śūnyam means zero. As soon as we make all other desires... Other means there are two things: Kṛṣṇa and māyā. So this material world means māyā. Māyā means which is not fact. It is an illusion. Just like we dream at night. It is no fact, but it works. Similarly, this material world is called māyā, means it is not factually in existence, but it is working, hallucination. So if we want to be really... Because we are within this entanglement, twenty-four elements, as we have analyzed, within this, the result is that, being influenced by this māyā or mahat-tattva, who is working with the three modes of material nature, and I am desiring, my basic principle of my material existence is my desire, and as soon as I desire, by the order of Kṛṣṇa, immediately the instruments and facilities are given to me. In this way, dhatte anusaṁsṛtiṁ puṁsi. As I desire, immediately the instrument... This body is instrument. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). (child making noise) (aside:) Stop this child. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati. Kṛṣṇa is situated everyone's heart, and as I am desiring, He has given us full freedom, not full freedom, but freedom. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that just like father, mother, gives the child little freedom and it moves here and there, but always looking after—may not catch up any fire, for may not fall down in the water, or some animal may not attack—so similarly, we are desiring and Kṛṣṇa is giving us facilities.
General Lectures
The real disease is, as it is stated by a Vaiṣṇava poet,
- kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare
- pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
When we forget Kṛṣṇa and want to lord it over the material nature, this is called māyā. Māyā means which has no factual existence. So this idea that I shall lord it over the material nature, this is māyā.
- kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare
- pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
As soon as we think of becoming the Lord and lording it over the Lord's creation, that is called māyā. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just an attempt to revive the original consciousness that "I am not the lord, but I am the servant of the Lord." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So our program is to speak on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the evening and to speak in English, and in the morning we speak on Bhagavad-gītā in Hindi. So we are very much grateful to you that you are kindly trying to cooperate with this movement and hear about Kṛṣṇa. Your cooperation means you please hear about Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, rādhā-kṛṣṇa bolo saṅge calo ei-mātra duhkhā cāi. We are simply begging you that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and please come along with us. This much begging we are submitting.
Correspondence
1971 Correspondence
ease regularly chant the Hare Krsna Mahamantra sixteen rounds daily and follow the regulative principles faithfully. By observing the four restrictions and avoiding the ten offenses to the Holy Name (i.e. blaspheming the Lord's devotee, considering the Lord and the demigods as being on the same level, neglecting the orders of the Spiritual Master, minimizing the authority of the sastras, interpreting the Holy Name of God, committing sins on the strength of chanting, instructing the glories of the Lord to the unfaithful, equating the chanting of the Holy Names with material piety, inattention while chanting of the Holy Name and maintaining attachment to material things while engaged in chanting the Holy Names) you will become qualified to receive the mercy of the Lord and thus advance yourself in His transcendental loving service, which is the perfect stage of transcendental life of bhaktirasa life. When one is factually experiencing existence of pure spiritual service to Krsna, he enjoys fullness of eternal life full of bliss and knowledge. So one should always strive for this end and thus be released from the grips of material happiness and miseries which characterize the conditional, mundane life within the temporary cosmic manifestations.
| Page Title: | Factual existence |
| Compiler: | Matea |
| Created: | 02 of Aug, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=9, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=2, Con=0, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 13 |