- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)
These are the nine different processes of devotional service, devotional life. The beginning is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. This is the beginning of. Śraddadhānasya. And one must be very eager or sincere to hear, śraddadhānasya. Śraddhā. Then it will be successful. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated:
- satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ
- yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ
- namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā
- nitya-yuktā upāsate
- (BG 9.14)
So we have to speak, or chant, about the holy activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is simply by if we hear . . . just like abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.265). This Bhāgavatam was . . . (buzzing sound) . . . was recited by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and it was heard by Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So although there are nine processes . . . (buzzing sound) . . . śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). You hear about Kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, the same. Kṛṣṇa is the origin of viṣṇu-tattva, and Viṣṇu is expansion of Kṛṣṇa. So when we speak of Viṣṇu, the origin of Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, aham ādir hi devānām (BG 10.2): "I am the origin even of the devas." The most important devas are Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. Creation, in the beginning of creation, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. From Viṣṇu, Brahmā is born; from Brahmā, Lord Śiva is born. And they take charge of the three modes of material nature. Brahmā . . . Viṣṇu takes the charge of sattva-guṇa, and the Lord Brahmā takes the charge of rajo-guṇa, and Lord Śiva takes the charge of tamo-guṇa. But in the creation, before the creation, when there was no Brahmā, no Śiva, there was Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām. The create . . . all the devas, demigods, or living entities, they are created after this cosmic manifestation is created. Therefore in the Vedas it is said: "In the beginning there was no Brahmā, no Śiva. Only Nārāyaṇa āsīt." Eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. That Nārāyaṇa is also another plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7).
So we have to learn from the śāstra that Kṛṣṇa is the origin, Bhagavān. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). All the viṣṇu-tattvas, all the incarnations, they are plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and . . . or expansion of the expansion. Thousands and thousands. Millions. Just like there are waves in the ocean and the river, similarly there are incarnation, many thousands. Śaktyāveśa-avatāra, guṇa-avatāra, svayam avatāra . . . many avatāras. They are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So all these avatāras are svacchandātmā. There is no cares and anxiety. Just like if we organize a business or some management, we have got so many anxieties. Even he's a managing director or proprietor or the supreme person in some establishment, he has got so many anxieties. He's not very happy. Although he's sitting in his room without any disturbance, but because he has to manage, the brain is working, "How to do this? How to do that? How to manage that affair?" He's always full of anxiety. This is material nature. In the material world you cannot be without any anxiety. That is not possible. Asad-grahāt.
Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was asked by his father, "My dear boy, what best thing you have learned from your teachers? Will you explain to me?" so Prahlāda Mahārāja immediately replied, tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5): "Yes, I have learned the best thing is that these materialistic persons, who have accepted the asad-vastu . . ." Sat and asat. Sad gama asato mā: "Don't keep yourself in the asat; go to the sat." Oṁ tat sat. That is the Vedic injunction. So . . . material world means asad-vastu. Asad-vastu means not good or which will not stay. Asat. Sat means which exists, and asat means not existing. So in the material world nothing will exist. It exists for some time, temporary. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. We Vaiṣṇavas, we do not say mithyā, because God, or the Supreme Brahman, is truth, so there cannot be anything untruth from the truth. That is not possible. Just like if you prepare something from gold, an earring, that earring is also gold. You cannot say it is something else.
So yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1). That is the Vedic instruction. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So Supreme Absolute Truth is that from whom, or from which, everything has emanated. So if everything has emanated from the Absolute Truth, it cannot be untruth. How it can be untruth? It may be temporary. Therefore we Vaiṣṇava philosophers, we do not accept this jagat as the Māyāvādī philosopher says, jagan mithyā. No, we don't say mithyā. We say jagat is also satyam. Because the jagat has emanated from the Supreme, therefore it is not mithyā, but it is temporary. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. The material nature is temporary. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It comes into existence and stays for some time. Then it is again annihilated. But it is not mithyā. We don't say mithyā. And it can be utilized for the Supreme Truth. This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. Our Vaiṣṇava philosophy is we don't take anything as mithyā. We take it as truth, but we don't use it for purpose of which is not truth.
The material purpose is not truth, but spiritual purpose is truth. Therefore anything, you use it for the ultimate truth, Absolute Truth, that is realization of truth. This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy.