Nineteenth Theme: The Themes of Srimad-Bhagavatam

 

From section fifty-six to sixty-three, Srila Jiva Gosvami describes the tattvas contained in the Bhagavatam.

 

The tattva, or truth, which forms the basic argument of the Bhagavatam is the principle of no difference between jiva and Brahman. We have already said that the spark of transcendental energy is composed of pure consciousness, therefore it is very different from the body of matter and it is a portion of Brahman. All this is explained from two points of view, called samasti and vyasti. 

The first, samasti, (as a whole) is the view of Brahman; 

The second, vyasti (singularity), is the point of view of the jiva. The soul being eternally individual and a portion of the Supreme, it is His vyasti.

 

Baladeva Vidyabhusana points out that the research on the tattva of the jiva was carried out with the ultimate intention of explaining the nature of Isvara.

 

Jiva Gosvami begins to enumerate the ten tattvas expounded in the Bhagavatam, and then explains them one by one.

 

Suta Gosvami says:

“The arguments of Srimad-Bhagavatam fall into ten categories:

 

1. sarga (creation)
2. visarga (the secondary creation)
3. sthana (planetary systems)
4. posana (the protection offered by the

Supreme)

5. uti (creative impulses)
6. manvantara (the change of the times of Manu) 
7. isanukatha (the science that explains the

Personality of Godhead)

8. nirodha (the return to the Supreme)
9. mukti (release)
10. asraya (the unsurpassed goal of life)”

 

The next verse (2.10.2) says that the purpose of understanding the first nine tattvas is to isolate the tenth to emphasize its superiority. In other words, the sages first address nine subjects in order to make it fully understood that the true nature (tattva) of asraya is Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Suta Gosvami adds that the Rishis deal with them with the help of the Scriptures, which contain both philosophy and historical facts.

 

Wanting to better explain what these ten tattvas are about, Sukadeva Gosvami recites the seven verses of the Bhagavatam (those following 2.10.2).

1) Serge is the origin of the elements, of the objects of the senses, of the organs of the senses and of the intellect. This creation is caused by an alteration in the balance of the gunas.

 

2) Visarga is the creation of Brahma.

 

3) Sthana is the consciousness of the   

superiority of Vishnu.

 

4)Posana is the protection offered by the

Lord to His devotees.

 

5) Uti are the creative impulses, necessary for creation to occur. Sri Jiva says that uti are the impressions that are formed due to the activities of the jivas during the manifestation period of the material universe. Therefore, it is karma and its traces.

 

6) Manvantara is the change of the Manus, who provide instructions for the proper functioning of human society.

 

7) Isanukatha is the section that describes the incarnations of the Supreme Lord and the different activities that are carried out in the company of His devotees.

 

8) Nirodha is the immersion of living entities in Maha-Vishnu, along with their conditioned tendencies. This moment coincides with the withdrawal of the cosmic manifestation in Maha-Vishnu himself.

 

9) Mukti is liberation, that is, the permanent situation in which the living entities will find themselves after they have left the material bodies, both the dense and the subtle. That is, the abandonment of everything that is alien to them and the definitive defeat of avidya.

 

10) Asraya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin of everything. Nothing is beyond Him. Understanding other tattvas is helpful in understanding Him and meeting Him.

 

In section fifty-eight, Jiva Gosvami uses the words of Srimad-Bhagavatam itself (2.10.7) to define Asraya:

“The Supreme, who is celebrated as the Supreme Being or even as the Supreme Soul, is the source of the cosmic manifestation and its dissolution; He is the origin of everything (Brahman), the Absolute Truth (Paramatma).”

 

Brahman and Paramatma are therefore names of the same person from whom everything comes (abhasa) and who causes dissolution (nirodha). Being perceptible by the senses of the jiva, it is also called Asraya. The particle iti, in the verse of the Bhagavata Purana just mentioned, indicates variety; therefore, Bhagavat is one of His names.

 

To further clarify the nature of Asraya, Sukadeva Gosvami recited the following verse:

 

“The individual being who possesses the various instruments (the senses) is called the adhyatmika person; the individual deity who controls the senses is called Adhydaivaka; the physical manifestation perceived by sight (the body) is called the adhibautika person.”

 

To better understand these words, we went to look at Srila Prabhupada’s commentary on the verse in question. He says:

 

“Sri Krishna is the controller of everyone and everything. In this world three entities come into play in the actions of the senses: 

the individual soul, 

the devas that allow the action of the senses, and 

the vehicle of the senses, that is, the body. 

All are controlled by the Lord, who remains the Parama-purusa of all. The three Purusas just mentioned in the verse of the Bhagavatam are the adhyatmika-purusa (the individual soul), the adhidaivika-purusa (the devas who manage phenomena within the world), and the adhibautika-purusa (the energetic material itself). These three purusas are by no means supreme. None of them is independent, but one depends on the others. Matter depends on the soul and the devas, just as jiva depends on the action of the two purusas. Therefore, being interdependent, they cannot be absolute or, consequently, supreme.”

 

One who knows these three, that is, one who observes the action without being directly involved in it and who perceives it as a witness through the exercise of perfect cognition, is the Paramatma, that is, the Asraya, the Supreme Person. 

 

Any Asraya can be none other than a Svasraya, that is, one who has no other Asraya than himself. Krishna Bhagavan is only the independent absolute (svarat) and is always distinct from the other three, which are secondary and subordinate Asrayas. The jiva, being a Shakti of Paramatma, cannot be called Svasraya.

This is a section of the book “Tattva Sandarbha”, in English.

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