There are three kinds of departmental study in the Vedas. First thing is sambandha. Sambandha means "What is my relationship with God." This is stated there. In the Vedānta it says, janmādy asya yataḥ. The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything is generated. So everything, amongst everything, I am also, you are also. So you are also coming from that Supreme Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ: (BG 15.7) "All these living entities..." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya: (BG 14.4) "In any species, any form of life..." Sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ: "As many forms are there..." Not only human beings, the animals, the trees, the birds, the aquatics, the insects, everyone, all living entities. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ: "In any species of life, as many forms are there," ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, "I am their original father." Bīja-pradaḥ pitā, seed-giving father. So as father places the seeds within the womb of the mother, similarly the material nature is the mother and Kṛṣṇa is the father. The Kṛṣṇa impregnates the material nature, and we come out in different forms. Sveda-ja, pādapa-ja and jarāyu-ja, and aṇḍa-ja. Sveda-ja means by perspiration, through perspiration.
Sambandha means
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
The whole subject matter of Vedas, are these three things, what is our relationship with God... First of all we must know what is God. Then we must know what is our relationship with God. And if we act according to that relationship, then our aim of life is fulfilled. Sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana. Sambandha means relationship, and abhidheya means the activities, and prayojana means the ultimate goal of life. So the ultimate goal of life is to understand Viṣṇu. Na te viduḥ.
Not nowadays. Even in... formerly there were persons, they did not know what is the goal of life. Because it is the material world. In the material world the sense gratification program is very prominent. But we do not know that by the program, karma, of sense gratification, we become entangled. Therefore that sense gratification process is regulated. In the Vedas that is regulated.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same three things are there: sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana.
Sambandha means "First of all, what is my relationship with God." That is called sambandha. Just like first of all a boy or a girl is to be married. So... That is the Vedic system. The father, mother, selects. That is called sambandha. When they fixed up that "This boy will be married with that girl," that is called sambandha. So relationship. Then when the sambandha is established by marriage, when the boy or girl is married, then the sambandha is done. "Now... Now the boy and the girl may remain separately in their respective homes." No. That is abhidheya. Abhidheya. When they are united by the marriage there must be dealings between them. That is called abhidheya. Abhidheya. Abhidheya means not that "Our now marriage ceremony, relationship is established. Now you Mr. such and such, you go home, I go home." No. There must be actual activities. The wife should take care of serving the husband, and the husband should take care of the wife. Then the relationship... Why this relationship? Why these are activities? Now, there is prayojana.
Our life is meant for understanding God. This is human life: athāto brahma jijñāsā. Human life is meant for this purpose. The animals, they are jijñāsā. Their jijñāsā, inquiry, there are many, many inquiries. And answers also. Just like we see in the newspaper so many news, unlimited number of news. But there is no news of how to understand God. There is no news. This is anartha. So lokasyājānata, they have no information. Because they are animals... The animal has no information, neither he has got capacity to understand what he is, what is his relationship with God, what he has to do. Sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana. The whole Vedic principles are based on these three principles. Sambandha. Sambandha means relationship. Everyone says there is God, but what is God and what is our relationship with God, that is to be understood. Sambandha. Then as soon as relationship is understood, then our real activity begins. That real activities is called bhakti, and the material activities, which is not bhakti, that is māyā.
So the Bhagavad-gītā is giving us directly information about our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa personally giving instruction that is His position and what is our position, what is our relationship with Him and what is the ultimate goal of life. These are called in Sanskrit language, sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana. Sambandha means we must know what is our relationship with God, Kṛṣṇa. That is called sambandha. Everyone is speaking about God. That is human nature. Any civilized form of human society has some sort of religious principles, to understand God. That is a fact. So in the human form of life, this is the main question. This is called brahma-jijñāsā. "What is my relationship with God? What I am? Why I am suffering in this material world? Is there a solution?" This is the business of human form of life, not to imitate the animals, how to eat nicely, how to live nicely, how to have sexual intercourse nicely and how to defend. These are animal propensities.
This is called sambandha-jñāna. (bells ring, Deities open) There are three things—sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Sambandha means first of all we have to establish what is our relationship with God. This is called sambandha-jñāna. Any Vedic literature, it is dealing with three things—sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Everywhere... In our relationship with mundane world... You are American. So American means the sambandha, the relationship. You have got intimate relationship with the country known as America. This is called sambandha. Unless you know what is your relationship with America there is no question of fighting for America, because the relationship is there. Similarly, in any country... This is, of course, artificial, man-made sambandha, externally. But the principle, to know first of all our relationship, then act accordingly and then the purpose for which we establish relationship, that is obtained. A businessman, he enters into business contract with another businessman. The agreement is there, that "We shall transact business as purchaser or seller, as agent or as principle." This is called sambandha-jñāna. If we do not know what is our sambandha, relationship with God, then why one should be interested to worship God? There is no question. Therefore sambandha-jñāna is the first principle to understand.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So we are situated in a society of the lowest of the mankind. Always remember this, that we are situated in a civilization which is the lowest of the mankind. Not only I am speaking of your United States... All over the world. Even India, where so much culture was made for understanding God, this foolish government, they're also teaching this. You see. So this is the, I mean to say, age. Don't think that I am particularly criticizing some country or community. This is the age, Kali. It is called Kali. Hypocrisy, simply hypocrisy. Kali means full of hypocrisy. So we have to be very careful. We have to... Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā (BG 7.14). And the illusory energy is very strong. At any moment, little slackness... (aside:) Oh, you have wrongly put. (break) So this is... Actually, we should understand. So Lord Caitanya says that sambandha means we have to revive, we have to reestablish our lost relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God. That is civilization. The relationship is there already because I am born. The supreme cause is Kṛṣṇa, or God. But I have, some way or other, I have forgotten that. Therefore these scriptures—Vedas, this Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā—these scriptures are reminding me. They're made for reminding me that "Your relationship with Kṛṣṇa is eternal. Why you have forgotten? Therefore you are suffering." We have discussed the śloka, verse, that bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya viparyaya-smṛtiḥ. Vipa... Because we have taken a, a reverse position for, for, forgetting the Supreme, therefore we are put into anxiety. Because we have taken a reverse position. "Who is God?" Viparyaya-smṛtiḥ. This very word is used. Viparyaya means topsy-turvied. "Your memory has become topsy-turvied. Therefore you are suffering." But he will not agree. "No, we shall adjust. We shall make laws. We shall make agitation. We shall form party and go on defying God, and we shall be happy in this way." So this godless civilization is now generating the Communist party. So the dangerous position, we are coming.
Now Kṛṣṇa's..., about the position of Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, he has already described. The first proposition is sambandha. Sambandha means we have to understand our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Just like if we want to make some relationship with a friend, then we must know about him, what he is. So we are going to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, so we must know what is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa he has described shortly, that He is personally like this, His incarnations are like this, and there are so many incarnations, and He is existing in this way, He manifests Himself in this material world in this way. As far as possible he has given description about Kṛṣṇa. Now, about Kṛṣṇa's abode... Kṛṣṇa means not only Kṛṣṇa. Nāma dhāma guṇa līlā parikara vaisiṣṭha. Kṛṣṇa means Kṛṣṇa Himself, His name, His place, nāma dhāma, His quality, then His entourage, then His pastime. All these things Kṛṣṇa means. Because we are not impersonalists, simply understanding Brahman we are satisfied... The impersonalists are satisfied simply understanding that He is Brahman. But the Vaiṣṇava, they are not satisfied simply by knowing Brahman. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, brahma-bhūtaḥ. Brahma-bhūtaḥ means he's already Brahman, but he forgot himself. He thought himself that "I am matter." That is illusion.
Purports to Songs
Then he says, se sambandha nāhi jā'r. Sambandha means connection or contact. "So anybody who has not contacted a relationship with Nityānanda," se sambandha nāhi jā'r, bṛthā janma gelo tā'r, "then he is supposed to have spoiled his human birth." In other song also Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu: "Anyone who does not approach Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa through the relationship of Nityānanda, his life is uselessly spoiled." Se sambandha nāhi jā'r, bṛthā janma gelo tā'r. Bṛthā means useless, janma means life, tāra means his, and sambandha means relationship. "So anyone who has no relationship with Nityānanda, he is simply spoiling his, the boon of human form of life." Why he is spoiling? Se paśu boro durācār. Se means that; paśu, animal; durācār, dura, misbehaved, mostly misbehaved. Because without our elevation to Kṛṣṇa consciousness through the mercy of Lord Caitanya-Nityānanda, the life is simply animal propensities. That's all. Sense gratification. And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that ordinary animal, he can be tamed, but a human being, when he is animalistic, when he has simply animal propensities, oh, he is horrible. He cannot be tamed. Ordinary cats and dogs, even tiger, can be tamed. But a human being, when he goes out of his way, because human life is meant for being elevated to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if he doesn't take to that, then his higher intelligence will be simply misused for animal propensities, and it is very difficult to tame him.
| Page Title: | Sambandha means |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 06 of Jan, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=9, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 9 |