Srimad Bhagavatam #12: The first step in God realization

After Pariksit Maharaja presented his questions before Sukadeva Goswami, the great sage started to reply.

In this part:

The First Step in God Realization (SB 2.1)
The Grhasta and the Grhamedhi
The highest perfection
Living for just a moment in full consciousness
The First Step in God Realization
The process of Astanga-yoga
Meditation on the Universal Form

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The First Step in God Realization (SB 2.1)

After Pariksit Maharaja presented his questions before Sukadeva Goswami, the great sage started to reply. In the first canto, Suta Goswami answers the questions of Saunaka Rishi, while in the second canto, the Same Suta Goswami narrates the conversation between Sukadeva Goswami and Maharaja Pariksit.

In the first canto, Vyasadeva started his recitation with the words “oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya”, offering his respects to the Supreme Lord. Now, in the second canto, Sukadeva Goswami starts his recitation by uttering the same words. The word “Bhagavan” can sometimes be used in relation to an ordinary powerful person, but Vāsudevāya makes it clear who is being addressed, “Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva”.

The second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam is called “The Cosmic Manifestation” because there are lots of explanations about the structure of the Universe and the process of creation, topics that will be explained in more detail in the following cantos.

The Srimad Bhagavatam deals with ten subjects:

1- Sarga, or the primary creation, done by Lord Maha-Vishnu.
2- Visarga, the secondary creation, done by Lord Brahma.
3- Vrtti, maintenance of the universe.
4- Raksa, the sustenance of all living beings.
5- Antarani, the reigns of the Manus, who take care of the Universal affairs.
6- Vamsah, the dynasties of great kings
7- Vamsa-anucaritam, the narrations of their activities.
8- Samstha (annihilation),
9- Hetuh, the motivation for the living entities’ involvement in material activities.
10- Apasrayah, the Supreme Shelter.

Although each canto explains certain topics with more detail than others, all the 12 cantos contain explanations about all the 10 topics. Because each canto brings knowledge that is suitable for the level of understanding of the reader, we may notice that often the same topic is repeatedly explained in several cantos, but with different details, combined with other topics that help us to deepen our understanding of the first. This may sound confusing for contemporaneous readers, who would expect a book to speak about everything connected with one topic before passing to the next, but this is a scientific system for conveying transcendental knowledge.

This first chapter in the second canto is called “The First Step in God Realization” because it includes an explanation of meditation in the universal form, which is recommended for neophytes, as well as transcendentalists coming from impersonalism, who have difficulties in meditating on the personal form of the Lord. The meditation on the universal form offers a way to adjust their consciousness to the idea that the Lord has a form.

At the end of the first canto, Pariksit Maharaja asked about the way of perfection for all persons, especially for one who is about to die. What should a person hear, chant, remember, and worship? What should he not do?

The answer to this question is the process of pure devotional service to the Lord, which was already hinted at in the first canto. Sukadeva Goswami starts his answer by revealing that the answer to this question is the prime subject matter for hearing, and it is approved by all.

“Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.
The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.
Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children, and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.
O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.” (SB 2.1.2-5)

The Grhasta and the Grhamedhi

Verse 2.1.2 mentions the word gṛha-medhinām. “Gṛha” means house. Every married couple is supposed to have a house where they can raise their family, but there are two types of householders. A grhasta is attentive to his spiritual practice and duties and thus conducts his married life in a way that is not contradictory to his spiritual development. That’s what is called “grhasta asrama”, a position where one can practice spirtual life living together with his family.

The verse however refers to another type of householder, the gṛhamedhī, an ordinary materialist who just tries to improve his material position, make money, and enjoy life without any clear spiritual vision. As Prabhupada mentions on 3.22.11: “The difference between gṛhamedhī and gṛhastha is that gṛhastha is also an āśrama, or spiritual order, but if one simply satisfies his senses as a householder, then he is a gṛhamedhī. For a gṛhamedhī, to accept a wife means to satisfy the senses, but for a gṛhastha a qualified wife is an assistant in every respect for advancement in spiritual activities.”

Gṛhamedhīs are just concerned about the needs of the body and mind. They live just to try to satisfy their material ambitions and thus have no time or interest in hearing about self-realization. The problem is that death does not wait for anyone. We have a finite time to live in this world, and this time is properly utilized when we utilize it for attaining eternal life, through the process of spiritual practice, including chanting, hearing about Krsna, worshiping, serving, and so on. A devotee practices during his life and is thus able to pass the ultimate test at the moment of death.

As Prabhupada mentions: “Factually, the human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to birth, death, old age and disease, but the gṛhamedhīs, being illusioned by the material nature, forget everything about self-realization. The ultimate solution to the problems of life is to go back home, back to Godhead, and thus, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.16), the miseries of material existence — birth, death, old age and disease — are removed.”

Materialists, on the other hand, try to prolong their existence in this material world by surrounding themselves with many fallible soldiers, like body strength, money, relatives, doctors, and so on. In this way, a materialist tries to find a situation where he feels safe and comfortable in this world and many arrangements are made in this direction, but unfortunately, this can’t save a person at the time of death. A materialist thus eventually dies and takes with him to his next body only the reactions to his pious and sinful activities.

It’s important to note that most passages of the scriptures that criticize family life specifically condemn this type of materialistic family life and not family life in Krsna Consciousness. The grhasta asrama is recommended in the scriptures as a viable path of self-realization, and Bhaktivinoda Thakura even recommended it as the safest path in the age we live. One can be a transcendentalist as both a renounced person or as a married man or woman, the main point is to remain stronger in our spiritual practice and not lose track of the goal of life.

The highest perfection

Amongst transcendentalists, some cultivate knowledge, some practice mystic yoga, while others strive to practice their duties inside the varnasrama system. However, the perfection for all of these paths is to remember the Lord at the time of death. Our whole lives are actually just a preparation for this test.

“The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life.” (SB 2.1.6)

The ultimate perfection is the stage of nārāyaṇa-smṛti when we can constantly remember the Lord. This stage can be achieved only by association with devotees. There are many instances of great personalities who became devotees and achieved this spiritual perfection after graduating on the path of Karma, Jnana, or Yoga, like the Four Kumaras and the Nive Yogendras, but there are no instances of a pure devotee going back to one of these processes. Sukadeva Goswami himself was perfectly situated in the impersonal platform and nonetheless became attracted to the process of devotional service when he heard the Srimad Bhagavatam.

This proves that the platform of devotional service is the highest stage, as confirmed in the next verses:

“O King Parīkṣit, mainly the topmost transcendentalists, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.”
At the end of the Dvāpara-yuga, I studied this great supplement of Vedic literature named Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is equal to all the Vedas, from my father, Śrīla Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva.
O saintly King, I was certainly situated perfectly in transcendence, yet I was still attracted by the delineation of the pastimes of the Lord, who is described by enlightened verses.
That very Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam I shall recite before you because you are the most sincere devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One who gives full attention and respect to hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam achieves unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord, the giver of salvation.” (SB 2.1.10)

Sukadeva Goswami heard the Srimad Bhagavatam from his father before the battle of Kuruksetra, which was the chronological start of Kali-yuga. After that, he wandered as an avaduta until he finally met with Maharaja Pariksit to fulfill his mission of revealing the Srimad Bhagavatam. In terms of years, he was older than Maharaja Pariksit, but he looked like a 16-year-old boy, with extremely beautiful bodily features.

In his purports, Srila Prabhupada emphasizes that the Srimad Bhagavatam should be studied sequentially. One should start from the first cantos and gradually study the whole scripture, instead of reading a piece from here and another from there. The Srimad Bhagavatam is a scripture carefully composed to gradually elevate our consciousness, so we may be able to understand Krsna’s pastimes in the 10th canto and become fixed in meditation on Him.

Living for just a moment in full consciousness

In text 11, Sukadeva Goswami reveals the supreme process of self-realization: taking shelter in the sound representation of the Lord, following the instructions of spiritual authorities. This is the process recommended for all, including those who desire material enjoyment, those who are free from all desires, and the ones who are already self-realized and self-satisfied. All other processes of self-realization are ineffective in our age. Only the process of remembering the Lord constantly through His sound representation can save one from the cycle of birth and death. This can be done by directly chanting the holy names, or by reciting and hearing the Srimad Bhagavatam, as done by Sukadeva Goswami and Pariksit Maharaja.

Pariksit had asked what is the duty of one who is about to die and here Sukadeva Goswami gives the answer, which he will expand throughout the rest of the book. We may think that we have a very long life ahead, but in reality, we are all people about to die, because we can’t be sure about how long we will live. Prabhupada makes the point that due to the curse of the Brahmana, Pariksit could be sure that he was going to live for seven days, while we don’t even have this certainty. We can die at any moment, therefore we should have the same sense of urgency as Maharaja Pariksit in hearing about Krsna.

“O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.
What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest.” (SB 2.1.11-12)

To encourage Maharaja Pariksit, who had only seven days to live, Sukadeva Goswami explains that there is no point in a long life that doesn’t lead to self-realization. Certain species on our planet can live for thousands of years, such as certain types of trees, but what is the point of having a very long life as a tree? Similarly, most people may have longer lives than Pariksit Maharaja, but what is the point of a long human life in ignorance of our eternal nature as souls? Better to live for just a moment, but in full Krsna Consciousness. Since Pariksit Maharaja had already decided to dedicate the last days of his life to hearing the Srimad Bhagavatam and situating himself in Krsna Consciousness, there was nothing to lament.

Would just seven days be sufficient for him to attain perfection? Would not be better to have a longer life? To put things into perspective, Sukadeva Goswami mentions the story of Maharaja Khaṭvāṅga, who was able to achieve perfection in just a muhurta, which was much less time than Pariksit Maharaja had. A muhurta equals 48 minutes, but it is generally translated as “a moment” because it is not a very long time. Certainly, we can waste a muhurta very easily if we don’t have a clear idea of what to do, but that was not the case with Khaṭvāṅga.

“The saintly King Khaṭvāṅga, after being informed that the duration of his life would be only a moment more, at once freed himself from all material activities and took shelter of the supreme safety, the Personality of Godhead.” (SB 2.1.13)

The story is that Mahārāja Khaṭvāṅga was invited by the demigods to the celestial planets to help them fight the asuras. After fighting many battles, the demigods became satisfied with him and offered him a benediction. Instead of asking for some material blessing, Khaṭvāṅga inquired about his remaining duration of life. This showed how his priority was not to just enjoy materially but to prepare himself for the next life. After being informed by the demigods that he had only one muhurta left, he immediately returned to Earth and used his remaining time to practice self-realization and return home, back to Godhead.

Why did he return to Earth instead of simply practicing where he was, on the celestial planets? The point is that it’s very easy to become distracted by all the opportunities for sense gratification that exist there. Although there are many sages and devotees on the celestial planets, it’s not a very favorable place for self-realization. The lower planets are also not a good place, because people there are very disturbed due to suffering, fear, and anxiety as well as bad association. Earth is thus considered the ideal place for self-realization, because it offers a balanced environment, without such extremes of enjoyment and distress.

Theoretically, one can go back to Godhead from any position in the material world. When Lord Caitanya entered the forest of Jarikanda, all animals joined Him in chanting the holy names and were thus liberated. Lord Caitanya also liberated several trees by embracing them. Similarly, Gajentra (an elephant from the celestial planets) was able to achieve liberation by remembering, in a moment of danger, prayers he had learned in his previous life as a human being. Bali Maharaja became a pure devotee, although born in the lower planets, and similarly, there are many great devotees in the celestial planets. The point is just that practicing devotional on the celestial planets is harder due to all the possibilities for material enjoyment that are available there. Earth, especially during the time the sankirtan movement is available is the most favorable place.

Examples like Maharaja Khaṭvāṅga and Maharaja Pariksit set the gold standard of how one can achieve perfection at the time of death. Instead of being afraid, we should see death as an opportunity to regain our eternal position as servants of Krsna. During our lifetime, we may be distracted by many tasks and duties, but when we come to the last stage of life and realize that our days are numbered, we should become fully determined to cross the material ocean.

The First Step in God Realization

From verse 16 to verse 21, Sukadeva Goswami describes the process of mystic yoga or astanga-yoga as a process for becoming purified of material contamination and becoming situated on a platform of devotional service to the Lord. This is a process of self-realization that has beem practiced since the beginning of Satya-yuga by elevated personalities who are capable of controlling their senses. In the first canto, we had the example of Drtarastra, who attained liberation by this process, and throughout the Bhagavatam, other examples are given. The process of astanga-yoga is also based on the chanting of the holy names, in the form of the sacred syllable Om, and it has the same goal as the process of congregational chanting, which is to become completely absorbed in meditation on the Lord. It is just a process that is very difficult to practice in the current era. Great personalities like Maharaja Pariksit, however, could practice it without difficulty.

The steps described by Sukadeva Goswami are:

a) One should go to an isolated place and practice the rules and regulations of the yoga system, bathing regularly and sitting in a sanctified place.
b) One should vibrate the omkara [a-u-m], control the breathing process and control the mind.
c) As the mind becomes spiritualized, the yogi should withdraw it from sense activities and control the senses using the intelligence.
d) After focusing the mind, one can meditate on Paramatma inside the heart, visualizing one limb of His transcendental body at a time, without being deviated from the conception of the complete body. The meditation should be completely focused on the Lord, without other thoughts crossing the mind.
e) By this system of remembering and focusing one’s mind on the personal form of the Lord, one can soon attain devotional service to the Lord, under His personal shelter.

In this short description, Sukadeva Goswami describes in a nutshell the goal of the process, which is to meditate on the personal form of the Lord. It’s very difficult for us to practice this process, but we can achieve similar benefits by meditating in the form of the deity. For us, this is a much more effective process.

“The worshipable Deity in the temple of Viṣṇu is identical with Lord Viṣṇu by the inconceivable potency of the Lord. Therefore, a neophyte’s concentration or meditation upon the limbs of Viṣṇu in the temple, as contemplated in the revealed scriptures, is an easy opportunity for meditation for persons who are unable to sit down tightly at one place and then concentrate upon praṇava (oṁkāra) or the limbs of the body of Viṣṇu, as recommended herein by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the great authority. The common man can benefit more by meditating on the form of Viṣṇu in the temple than on the oṁkāra, the spiritual combination of a-u-m as explained before.” (2.1.19)

In verse 22, King Parīkṣit inquires further: “O brāhmaṇa, please describe in full detail how and where the mind has to be applied and how the conception can be fixed so that the dirty things in a person’s mind can be removed.”

With this, Sukadeva Goswami starts a more elaborate explanation of the process, describing first the meditation on the Virat-rupa, the Universal Form, and proceeds (in the second chapter) to describe meditation on Paramatma.

The process of Astanga-yoga

Astanga-yoga, or the eight-fold yoga system (asta means “eight” and anga means “limbs” in Sanskrit), consists of eight levels of practice: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. This is the process mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita and other scriptures, which was practiced by yogis and transcendentalists through the ages. All the modern processes of yoga derive from this original eight-fold system, but in most cases, important parts of the process are lost, discarded, or modified.

The Astanga-Yoga process starts with Yama and Niyama. Yama means “to do” and Niyama “not to do”. These are rules and regulations, or prescriptions and prohibitions that one is supposed to follow as part of his practice.

Yama means items that are favorable to the spiritual practice and therefore should be practiced, and Niyama means what is unfavorable and should thus be avoided or abandoned. For example, in the Bhagavad-Gita Krsna mentions that “There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.” (Bg 6.16). This is an example of yama/niyama.

Similarly, other prescriptions include to wake-up early in the morning, not going to sleep too late, following a vegetarian diet, being non-violent, maintaining a good standard of cleanliness and sense-control, etc. Most rules and prohibitions of yama/niyama are useful for all spiritual seekers, not only to astanga-yogis.

The third component is Asana, which consists of bodily exercises and sitting postures. The asanas help one to ascend from a gross material platform to a more subtle platform, calming the mind and helping to develop concentration, which are prerequisites for the more advanced stages of the process. The asanas are thus a preparation, just like a runner may warm up and execute other routines as a preparation for his training.

In other words, asanas means to use the material body to perform activities that can elevate one’s consciousness. In this sense, there are similarities with the process of Karma-yoga described in the Bhagavad-gita. In the case of the Astanga-yoga process, the asanas also help to prepare the body for standing in the same position for a long time, as required in the practice of meditation.

More advanced than bodily postures is the process of Pranayama, which consists of breathing exercises: inhaling, exhaling, and holding the breath. It’s a more subtle form of the process of employing the gross body in actions that help to elevate one’s consciousness.

The Pranayama process is summarily explained in the Bhagavad-Gita (4.29): “Still others, who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance, practice by offering the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming, and the incoming breath into the outgoing, and thus at last remain in trance, stopping all breathing. Others, curtailing the eating process, offer the outgoing breath into itself as a sacrifice.”

Just like with the asanas, the purpose of the pranayama process is to stop the mind and senses from engaging in materialistic activities. In both cases, the goal is not to make the body and mind stronger in order to be able to work more, or simply to manage stress, but to advance in spiritual practice. The problem with the way most people practice yoga nowadays is exactly that, because of a lack of a broader understanding of the process and its goals, most people practice isolated parts of the process with the goal of simply improving their physical endurance or mental alertness, and thus they are just like someone that licks the external part of a pot of honey instead of tasting what is inside.

The next step is the process of Pratyahara, which means to control the mind and senses. In the Bhagavad-gita, the material body is compared with a chariot, where the senses are the horses, the mind and intelligence are the reins and coachman, and the soul is the passenger. When one starts the meditational process, the mind will wander everywhere, bringing to consciousness a series of remembrances, desires, plans, feelings, etc. Pratyahara means to withdraw the mind and focus it in the practice of yoga or, in other words, to withdraw the senses from matter and engage them in transcendence, just like in the example of the tortoise, that can withdraw his members when necessary, and again expand them when desired.

Without mastering the process of pratyahara, it’s not possible for one to successfully practice the next level (dharana, or meditation). Nowadays, many try to meditate, but without pratyahara, it’s not possible to successfully do that. This leads to many concocted processes of guided meditation that just make one meditate in different aspects of material life instead of proper dharana. This way, the practice doesn’t lead anywhere.

This stage is also explained in the Bhagavad-Gita:

“One has to drive out the sense objects such as sound, touch, form, taste and smell by the pratyāhāra process in yoga, and then keep the vision of the eyes between the two eyebrows and concentrate on the tip of the nose with half-closed lids. There is no benefit in closing the eyes altogether, because then there is every chance of falling asleep. Nor is there benefit in opening the eyes completely, because then there is the hazard of being attracted by sense objects. The breathing movement is restrained within the nostrils by neutralizing the up-moving and down-moving air within the body. By practice of such yoga one is able to gain control over the senses, refrain from outward sense objects, and thus prepare oneself for liberation in the Supreme.” (BG 5.27-28 purport)

For a practitioner of bhakti-yoga, pratyahara means to engage oneself in practical devotional service, in this way the mind and senses are automatically controlled. This is explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam (3.33.8 purport):

“Pratyāhāra means to wind up the activities of the senses. The level of realization of the Supreme Lord evidenced by Devahūti is possible when one is able to withdraw the senses from material activities. When one is engaged in devotional service, there is no scope for his senses to be engaged otherwise. In such full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can understand the Supreme Lord as He is.”

The next stage is called Dharana, or fixed meditation. Nowadays many have the idea that to meditate means to empty the mind of all thoughts. However, not only this is not recommended, but it is not even possible, since thoughts will always come to one’s mind. Instead, the Astanga-yoga process prescribes meditation in the form of the Lord. A yogi takes shelter (asraya) in a particular form of the Lord and fixes his mind on all the details of this particular form. This fixed meditation is thus a form of worship.

The object of the meditation (Dharana-asraya) can be the Universal Form (virat-rupa) or the form of Paramatma inside the heart, according to the yogi’s level of advancement.

For a bhakti-yogi, the process of Dharana is performed through the chanting of the maha-mantra, which provides a shelter for one’s meditation, allowing him to connect with the transcendental platform with much less effort.

The next stage is Dhyana. As the meditation intensifies and becomes deeper, a yogi enters the stage of Dhyana. Although both Dharana and Dhyana involve basically the same practice of meditation, Dharana is the beginning stage, whereas Dhyana is the advanced stage, when the yogi masters the process and starts to come close to the final goal.

Finally, there is the stage of Samadhi, A deep trance that is attained when the yogi attains perfection in the meditation process. In Samadhi the yogi is capable of fully situating his consciousness in the spiritual platform, attaining the level of brahma-bhuta (brahman realization, or liberation), which is the final goal of the process of yoga.

Samadhi is also the ultimate goal in the process of Bhakti-yoga, where it’s also attained through fixed meditation. The main difference is that in the process of Astanga-yoga, one has to execute a very difficult process, while a Bhakta needs just to become absorbed in Krsna’s name, form, pastimes, etc.

The stage of brahma-bhuta is described in the last chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita:

“One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state, he attains pure devotional service unto Me.” (BG 18.54)

This is the goal of all processes of yoga. The very word yoga means “to connect” or in other words, bring one’s consciousness from matter to spirit, allowing him to connect with the divine. This connection is firmly established in this stage of Brahma-bhuta.

The stage of brahma-bhuta marks also the stage where one can start to practice a personal relationship with the Lord, in one of the five rasas cultivated in the spiritual realm. Some souls prefer the stage of neutrality, others prefer to serve the Lord, others cultivate a personal relationship on an equal level (friendship), others a paternal relationship, and others a conjugal relationship. Any of these rasas, or relationships, are possible for sincere souls, but they start from the stage of Brahma-bhuta, where one becomes free from material entanglement and thus is firmly situated in a pure, transcendental platform. There is no possibility of cultivating a personal relationship with Krsna while one is still under the influence of the material modes of passion and ignorance.

Meditation on the Universal Form

One who has material desires, or is in a gross level of consciousness is recommended to meditate in the Universal Form.

“Śukadeva Gosvāmī answered: One should control the sitting posture, regulate the breathing process by the yogic prāṇāyāma and thus control the mind and senses and with intelligence apply the mind to the gross potencies of the Lord [called the virāṭ-rūpa].” (SB 2.1.23)

In this process, one meditates on the different components of the universal creation as well as different planetary systems and demigods as different parts of the form. Sukadeva Goswami describes that the Universal Form is composed of the phenomenal material world as a whole, wherein past, present, and future of material time are experienced.

The Pātāla planetary system constitutes the bottoms of the feet, and the heels and the toes are the Rasātala planets. The ankles are the Mahātala planets, and His shanks constitute the Talātala planets. The knees are the planetary system of Sutala, and the two thighs are the Vitala and Atala planetary systems. The hips are Mahītala, and outer space is the depression of His navel. Visible planets, such as the sun and the moon are situated in His chest, His neck is the Mahar planets, His mouth is the Janas planets, and His forehead is the Tapas planetary system. The topmost planetary system, known as Satyaloka, is the head.

His arms are the demigods headed by Indra, the ten directional sides are His ears, and physical sound is His sense of hearing. His nostrils are the two Aśvinī-kumāras, and material fragrance is His sense of smell. His mouth is the blazing fire. The sphere of outer space constitutes His eyepits, and the eyeball is the sun as the power of seeing. His eyelids are both the day and night, and in the movements of His eyebrows, Brahmā and similar supreme personalities reside. His palate is the director of water, Varuṇa, and the juice or essence of everything is His tongue. The Vedic hymns are the cerebral passage, and His jaws of teeth are Yamaraja, who punishes the sinners. The art of affection is His set of teeth, and the most alluring illusory material energy is His smile.

Modesty is the upper portion of His lips, hankering is His chin, religion is His breast, and irreligion is His back. Lord Brahmā, who generates all living beings in the material world, is His genitals. The ocean is His waist, and the hills and mountains are the stacks of His bones. The rivers are His veins, the trees are the hairs of His body, and the omnipotent air is His breath. The passing ages are His movements, and His activities are the reactions of the three modes of material nature. The clouds which carry water are the hairs on His head, the terminations of days or nights are His dress, and the supreme cause of material creation is His intelligence. His mind is the moon, the reservoir of all changes.

The principle of matter [mahat-tattva] is His consciousness, and Lord Rudra is His ego. The horse, mule, camel, and elephant are His nails and wild animals and all quadrupeds are situated in His belt zone. Varieties of birds are indications of His artistic sense. Manu, the father of mankind, is the emblem of His intelligence, and humanity is His residence. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas, Vidyādharas, Cāraṇas, and angels, represent His musical rhythm, and the demoniac soldiers are representations of His wonderful prowess. His face is the brāhmaṇas, His arms are the kṣatriyas, His thighs are the vaiśyas, and the śūdras are under the protection of His feet. All the worshipable demigods are also overtaken by Him.

To some, this description of the Universal Form may sound like a kind of pantheism, of seeing the universe and nature as identical to God in an impersonal conception, but it is actually more evolved than this. The meditation on the Universal Form is a kind of purified pantheism that gradually leads to an understanding of the personal form of the Lord. Prabhupada explains this point in his purport to verse 20:

“Pantheism in its higher status does not permit the student to form an impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, but it extends the conception of the Absolute Truth into the field of the so-called material energy. Everything created by the material energy can be dovetailed with the Absolute by an attitude of service, which is the essential part of living energy. The pure devotee of the Lord knows the art of converting everything into its spiritual existence by this service attitude, and only in that devotional way can the theory of pantheism be perfected.”

This Universal Form is essentially an imaginary form, where different levels of planetary systems and different personalities and elements of the cosmic creation are taken as different parts and limbs of the Universal Form. In one sense, this is so, since the universe is the energy of the Lord, but in the other sense, it’s imaginary since the Lord doesn’t have a material form. To meditate on the universal form of the Lord is thus an indirect form of meditation that can help yogis that are too much absorbed in material consciousness, and thus can’t conceive anything beyond it. Such yogis can’t conceive the existence of the transcendental forms of the Lord, and thus meditation in the universal form is the only feasible process.

A yogi who is already free from material desire, situated in a more advanced stage, can skip meditation in the universal form and go straight to meditation in the Supersoul, the form of the Lord situated in one’s heart, fixing his mind in all the details of the transcendental form of the Lord.

One question an attentive reader could ask is how this universal form described in the Srimad Bhagavatam relates to the Universal Form seen by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Does the universal form, as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam really exist? Yes and no. It exists in the sense that the universe exists, and everything is related to Krsna for being part of His energy. On the other hand, the universal form described in the Srimad Bhagavatam is imaginary in the sense that Krsna doesn’t have a material form. The form the yogis meditate upon is thus more or less imaginary, conceived to foment their spiritual understanding.

The Universal Form observed by Arjuna (and others) on the Bhagavad-Gita is, on the other hand, a form he could observe with his own eyes. When Arjuna asked Krsna to see His Universal form, Krsna answered: “You cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give you divine eyes. Behold My mystic opulence!”

The transcendental eyes given by Krsna allowed Arjuna to see, from the seat in his chariot, everything that exists in the universe as well as past present, and future. The many different forms Arjuna saw were the forms of the different demigods, demons, and other powerful beings. All these beings are empowered by Krsna to execute their activities, therefore they are part of the Lord’s Universal body. Arjuna’s vision of the universal form devouring the soldiers in both armies where a vision of how the force of Kala, or universal time, would crush them in the near future. Time is an inexorable force that wears out and eventually destroys everything. Everyone and everything in this material world is eventually devoured by time.

Being a devotee, Arjuna immediately connected everything he saw with Krsna, understanding that everything that exists is a manifestation of Krsna’s energy. However, he couldn’t check the feelings that came from such a vision. In this way, his natural relationship of friendship with Krsna was temporarily replaced with a feeling of fear and veneration, in which Arjuna offered prayers. Krsna then showed him His four-armed form as Narayana and finally assumed again His original form with two hands.

The display of the universal form as well as the four-handed form of Narayana form serves as proof of the divinity of Krsna. As Srila Prabhupada mentions, it set the standard for anyone claiming to be an incarnation. If someone claims to be an incarnation of God and is not capable of showing his universal form, he should immediately be rejected as a fraud.

The universal form described in the Srimad Bhagavatam is thus not exactly the same as the form shown to Arjuna. Yogis use their minds and intelligence to try to conceive an imaginary form composed of the different material manifestations encased inside the universe. The level of detail they can conceive will vary according to their intellectual power, but the form remains a product of their imagination. Arjuna on the other hand could directly see everything that exists using the transcendental eyes given to him by Krsna.

This meditation in the universal form described by Sukadeva Goswami is, however, not only useful for mystic yogis, it also has a practical function for us. Although we are chanting the holy names and meditating in the form of the deity, we may have difficulty in seeing Krsna and meditating on Him in other situations, when we are not performing these activities. This meditation on the universal form can thus help us to develop a continuous meditation on Krsna and see Him everywhere.

It may be difficult for us to directly see Krsna everywhere as pure devotees do. Still, we can also see Krsna everywhere if we understand that everything is the energy of Krsna and is therefore non-different from Krsna. Prabhupada explains that even a drunkard can make spiritual advancement if he understands that Krsna is the taste of all liquids and remembers him while drinking his liquor. By seeing everything as part of Krsna’s Universal body, we can see everything as connected with Him and thus see Him everywhere. He himself teaches us this meditation in the Bhagavad-Gita:

“O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics. O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men. I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O lord of the Bhāratas [Arjuna].” (Bg 7.8-11)