TEXT 10
“ätmäväsyam idaà viçvaà
yat kiïcij jagatyäà jagat
tena tyaktena bhuïjéthä
mä gådhaù kasya svid dhanam”
Srimad Bhagavatam 8.1.10
SYNONYMS
ätma—the Supersoul; äväsyam—living everywhere; idam—this universe; viçvam—all universes, all places; yat—whatever; kiïcit—everything that exists; jagatyäm—in this world, everywhere; jagat—everything, animate and inanimate; tena—by Him; tyaktena—allotted; bhuïjéthäù—you may enjoy; mä—do not; gådhaù—accept; kasya svit—of anyone else; dhanam—the property.
TRANSLATION
Within this universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Supersoul feature is present everywhere, wherever there are animate or inanimate beings. Therefore, one should accept only that which is allotted to him; one should not desire to infringe upon the property of others.
PURPORT
Having described the situation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as transcendental, Sväyambhuva Manu, for the instruction of the sons and grandsons in his dynasty, is now describing all the property of the universe as belonging to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Manu’s instructions are not only for his own sons and grandsons, but for all of human society. The word “man”—or, in Sanskrit, manuñya—has been derived from the name Manu, for all the members of human society are descendants of the original Manu. Manu is also mentioned in Bhagavad-gétä (4.1), where the Lord says:
“maà vivasvate yogaà
proktavän aham avyayam
vivasvän manave präha
manur ikñväkave ‘bravét”
“I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvän, and Vivasvän instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikñväku.” Sväyambhuva Manu and Vaivasvata Manu have similar duties. Vaivasvata Manu was born of the sun-god, Vivasvän, and his son was Ikñväku, the King of the earth. Since Manu is understood to be the original father of humanity, human society should follow his instructions.
Sväyambhuva Manu instructs that whatever exists, not only in the spiritual world but even within this material world, is the property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present everywhere as the Superconsciousness. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä (13.3), kñetra-jïam cäpi mäà viddhi sarva-kñetreñu bhärata: in every field—in other words, in every body—the Supreme Lord is existing as the Supersoul. The individual soul is given a body in which to live and act according to the instructions of the Supreme Person, and therefore the Supreme Person also exists within every body. We should not think that we are independent; rather, we should understand that we are allotted a certain portion of the total property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This understanding will lead to perfect communism. Communists think in terms of their own nations, but the spiritual communism instructed here is not only nationwide but universal. Nothing belongs to any nation or any individual person; everything belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the meaning of this verse. Ätmäväsyam idaà viçvam: whatever exists within this universe is the property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The modern communistic theory, and also the idea of the United Nations, can be reformed—indeed, rectified—by the understanding that everything belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is not a creation of our intelligence; rather, He has created us. Ätmäväsyam idaà viçvam. Éçäväsyam idaà sarvam [Éço mantra 1]. This universal communism can solve all the problems of the world.
One should learn from the Vedic literature that one’s body is also not the property of the individual soul, but is given to the individual soul according to his karma. Karmaëä daiva-netreëa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. The 8,400,000 different bodily forms are machines given to the individual soul. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä (18.61):
“çvaraù sarva-bhütänäà
håd-deçe ‘rjuna tiñöhati
bhrämayan sarva-bhütäni
yanträrüòhäni mäyayä”
“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” The Lord, as the Supersoul, sits in everyone’s heart and observes the various desires of the individual soul. The Lord is so merciful that He gives the living entity the opportunity to enjoy varieties of desires in suitable bodies, which are nothing but machines (yanträrüòhäni mäyayä [Bg. 18.61]). These machines are manufactured by the material ingredients of the external energy, and thus the living entity enjoys or suffers according to his desires. This opportunity is given by the Supersoul.
Everything belongs to the Supreme, and therefore one should not usurp another’s property. We have a tendency to manufacture many things. Especially nowadays, we are building skyscrapers and developing other material facilities. We should know, however, that the ingredients of the skyscrapers and machines cannot be manufactured by anyone but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The whole world is nothing but a combination of the five material elements (tejo-väri-mådäà yathä vinimayaù). A skyscraper is a transformation of earth, water and fire. Earth and water are combined and burnt into bricks by fire, and a skyscraper is essentially a tall construction of bricks. Although the bricks may be manufactured by man, the ingredients of the bricks are not. Of course, man, as a manufacturer, may accept a salary from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is stated here: tena tyaktena bhuïjéthäù [Éço mantra 1]. One may construct a big skyscraper, but neither the constructor, the merchant nor the worker can claim proprietorship. Proprietorship belongs to the person who has spent for the building. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has manufactured water, earth, air, fire and the sky, and one can use these and take a salary (tena tyaktena bhuïjéthäù). However, one cannot claim proprietorship. This is perfect communism. Our tendency to construct great buildings should be used only for constructing large and valuable temples in which to install the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then our desire for construction will be fulfilled.
Since all property belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, everything should be offered to the Lord, and we should take only prasäda (tena tyaktena bhuïjéthäù). We should not fight among ourselves to take more than we need. As Närada said to Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira:
“ävad bhriyeta jaöharaà
tävat svatvaà hi dehinäm
adhikaà yo ‘bhimanyeta
sa steno daëòam arhati”
“One may claim proprietorship to as much wealth as required to maintain body and soul together, but one who desires proprietorship over more than that must be considered a thief, and he deserves to be punished by the laws of nature.” (SB 7.14.8) Of course, we need to be maintained in eating, sleeping, mating and defending (ähära-nidra-bhaya-maithuna), but since the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, has provided these necessities of life for the birds and bees, why not for mankind? There is no need for economic development; everything is provided. Therefore one should understand that everything belongs to Kåñëa, and with this idea, one may take prasäda. However, if one interferes with the allotments of others, he is a thief. We should not accept more than what we actually need. Therefore, if by chance we get an abundance of money, we should always consider that it belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Kåñëa consciousness we are getting sufficient money, but we should never think that the money belongs to us; it belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and should be equally distributed to the workers, the devotees. No devotee should claim that any money or property belongs to him. If one thinks that any portion of property of this huge universe belongs to anyone, he is to be considered a thief and is punishable by the laws of nature. Daivé hy eñä guëa-mayé mama mäyä duratyayä: [Bg. 7.14] no one can surpass the vigilance of material nature or hide his intentions from material nature. If human society unlawfully claims that the property of the universe, either partially or wholly, belongs to mankind, all of human society will be cursed as a society of thieves and will be punished by the laws of nature.
The Peace Formula
The only means of peace to be established within our life and within our society is to understand this most basic principle of religion, “teno tektuena bhunjita” that everything is the property of God and therefore we only have the right to accept what is provided and allotted for us by the laws of God. Krishna also explains in Bhagavad-Gita,
“bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà
sarva-loka-maheçvaram
suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà
jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati”
Bhagavad-Gita 5.29
This is the peace formula, that one who understands how Krishna is the supreme proprietor of everything that exists and knows that everything is meant for His enjoyment and trust with faith that Krishna is our friend. Only such a person can achieve peace. You see unless we understand that Krishna is our friend. Unless we have trust and faith in the supremacy of God, then it will not be possible for us to utilize everything for His enjoyment.
We see in the lives of great asuras such as Hiranyakashipu and Kamsa, they knew that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They knew that He is the supreme God. It is not that they were in ignorance. They had knowledge. They knew that He is the proprietor of everything. They knew that everything is meant for His enjoyment. But they did not know that He is the friend of all living beings. They considered Krishna or Narayana to be their enemy. Therefore they wanted to claim proprietorship and compete with their enemy or Vishnu.
Just like there is the story of how Hiranakshya, the younger brother of Hiranyakashipu, in order to please his brother, he wandered throughout the entire universe with his formidable club conquering the demigods, conquering all the planets. He even went to the abode of Varuna and challenged that either you give me your property or fight with me. No one could even stand before him in battle. Then Hiranakshya was told that the supreme Lord Vishnu had incarnated in a wonderful form of a boar. If he really wanted a good fight he should fight with Vishnu. So of course we know the story. There was a great battle between Hiranakshya and the supreme Lord Sri Barahadeva and in the end Barahadeva slay this mighty asura. The family members were weeping, they were crying in great distress that their beloved son and brother was dead.
In fact Dity, the mother of both Hiranyakashipu and Hiranakshya, she was weeping in great distress. Even though she knew that her sons were very unrighteous demons, simply because of her motherly affection she could not bear the separation. So Hiranyakashipu, vowed to avenge the death of his brother. He vowed that our enemy is Vishnu and therefore Vishnu must be killed, and therefore we must conquer everything that is His and we must take the position of God.
“suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà”
Krishna says if you simply understand that He is your friend, you will find peace. Hiranyakashipu understood everything accept that Krishna was his friend, he considered Him as his enemy. And therefore he made a very very strategic plan. He decided that let us kill all the brahmanas. Let us destroy their sacrifice. If we do like this Vishnu, who is dependant on their oblations, He will die. Because in sacrifice you know, the brahmanas they offer oblations to the Devatas, as well as to Vishnu. He felt that if Vishnu does not get His oblations He will die. This is the way we will kill our enemy indirectly.
So of course they are causing a great havoc and Hiranyakashipu by his mighty strength, he conquered the entire universe. But how intolerable it was to Hiranyakashipu, that his worse, greatest and only enemy in life was worshiped by his favorite son Prahalada. Hiranyakashipu was demanding all demigods and all brahmanas and all living beings to worship him as the supreme proprietor of the universe. He was so powerful, he was so extravagant in his success that even great sages like Narada Muni became his humble obedient servant,what to speak of anybody else. There was nobody that would not bow down to his command except one person, his own favorite son Prahalad.
His own favorite son Prahalad was constantly chanting the name of Narayan. He was constantly thinking of Sri Krishna’s beautiful form and His beautiful pastimes. He was always crying out in love for Krishna. And whenever his father would inquire from him of what he is thinking or what the best part of his education was, Prahalad would always tell his father to give up his false ego and surrender to Krishna. It was too much for Hiranyakashipu to tolerate.
Envy
When you hate somebody or you are envious of somebody there is nothing that disturbs your mind more than seeing the person you are envious of glorified. Even within our own life we can feel this. Our envy may not be very much,but even if we are a little envious of someone, and we hear that person glorified, its very, very difficult to tolerate. We want to either assassinate that person’s character or minimize on or think that the person who is glorifying him is some kind of uninformed fool. In this way it is very difficult to tolerate.
In fact, it creates a burning sensation within the core of our heart, when we hear about a person, we are envious of being glorified, does it not? Just like Sisupala he was so envious of Krishna. He was given a benediction because Krishna was born to kill Sisupala. He was given a benediction that you can blaspheme Krishna up to 100 times. But beyond 100 times Krishna said,” I’ll have to kill to you.”
He saw that Krishna was being glorified in such a way in the Agra Puja, of the Rajasuya sacrifice, of Maharaja Yudhisthira. This puja is given for the most respected and honored man in the entire world and this honor was being given to Krishna, such glorification. Sisupala could not tolerate. He could not contain himself. He just went wild and just started blaspheming as if he had a hundreds and thousands of mouths. Just blasphemes were coming out. He lost all of his good memory and all of his common sense. Then he went beyond hundred marks and then Krishna very calmly took His Sudarsana Chakra and shaver his head.
So when we are envious of someone, if that person is glorified it is very painful to the heart. The worse type of glorification is, if someone you love, glorifies that person. If just a stranger glorifies that person, it is intolerable, but somehow or other you can contain yourself. But if someone you love is glorifying that person, someone your attached to is glorifying that person, someone who you want should adore you, is glorifying him instead. My god! It is like a death blow to the false ego. It is such a threat. So imagine Hiranyakashpu’s condition of consciousness. Of all his sons he wanted Prahalad to be the next king. He was his favorite son. From all his sons, he was the most virtues and most intelligent. He possessed the most munificent qualities. Hiranyakashipu was so proud of his son. But his son was 24 hours a day chanting the glories of his enemy.
“suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà”.
So in order to properly practice devotional service, you have to have faith that Krishna is your ever well wisher friend. Otherwise even if you know, He is the proprietor of everything and even if you know everything is meant for His enjoyment, you will not trust giving anything to Him.
The Spiritual Master
The spiritual master is the representative of Krishna. That is why Srila Prabhupada, he would always sign in his letter, “Your ever well wisher”. What does this mean? Unless we understand this principle we cannot properly practice our devotional life. Unless we have this faith, unless we have trust that Krishna as well as the spiritual master and His representatives, they are our ever well wishers. That means whatever we surrender to them we should have complete faith that it is in our best interest. Whatever they asked us to do they are never trying to cheat us. They are never trying to exploit us. But they are our best friends, trying to help us and give us the greatest of all benedictions. We must have that faith. Otherwise when the test comes we will fail. The test is when we have to surrender and at that point of surrender there must be trust, there must be faith. That yes, this person is my ever well wisher.
This World – A Place of Cheaters and the Cheated
Srila Prabhupada used to tell us, many times, that “this is the world of the cheaters and the cheated”. Everyone is cheating each other. He even gave us an example. The example he gave was in India. He said that in the villages, sometimes there is the idea that “if I can only marry my daughter to a saddhu then we will get great benediction of God within our family”. So when the saddhus come begging door to door, they take their daughter and have her take very good care of the saddhu. Thus the saddhu becomes attracted to the daughter and then marries her. In this way they cheat the saddhu. They cheat him from his renunciation.
But, what happens is that unscrupulous, low class, the lowest of mankind, they know that in the wealthy family they want to marry their daughter to a saddhu. So they disguise themselves as a saddhu and they came to the home. The daughter takes very good care of him and he says, yes I will give benedictions and I’ll marry her and I’ll become the owner of your property. Very nice, you are the recipient of God’s mercy. But actually they are getting nothing of God’s mercy. They are simply getting a low class criminal as a son in law. This is called the cheaters and the cheated.
You want to cheat but the cheaters will cheat you. Ultimately Krishna says that He is the greatest cheater. He cheats everyone of everything in due course of time. You cannot cheat Krishna. But He is cheating is out of love. He is not cheating us. He is actually our best friend. So this is the world of the cheaters and the cheated. Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that if you want to make proper spiritual advancement you simply have to have faith in one thing, that your guru has not come to cheat you. Everyone else is cheating you. But your guru is not cheating you, he is your friend and he is giving to you only. He is only concerned with your interest. The guru is never exploiting you. The guru is the best well wishing friend.
Lord Kapila Deva explains to Devahuti that there is only one friend and that is Krishna. There is no one else except Krishna who can be your friend because a friend in need is a friend indeed. We are most in need at the time of death. There are so many incidents in sashtra. The story of Gajendra, he had so many friends but when he was in need at the time when he was about to be killed, no one could help him. In fact at the time of death. none of your family members, none of your social acquaintances, none of your political lords within society, nobody can help you. Only the name of Krishna will help you. Therefore Krishna is our only friend. And one who is here as His servant, one who is His intimate associate, one who is fulfilling His desires, one who is on His mission that person is equally our friend. Therefore the only friend is a God conscious representative of the Lord. And if we do not have this faith, there is no question of really being able to surrender.
Faith
Faith is the most important in your spiritual life. Faith that the guru is not coming to cheat you. Faith that Krishna is our friend and here is His representative on earth. If we do not have this faith, we cannot make proper spiritual advancement. Our whole spiritual life is only physically pseudo and superficial. Of course none of us really have that faith. A neophyte would be very untruthful if he said that I have implicit faith that my guru is my best friend. We have an intellectual understanding and with that intellectual understanding, we must develop this faith.
“yasya deve parä bhaktir
yathä deve tathä gurau
tasyaite kathitä hy arthäù
prakäçante mahätmanaù”
Vedas (Çvetäçvatara Upaniñad 6.23)
One who has implicit faith in guru and Krishna that they are our friends and well wishers, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed. So therefore we must very, very carefully cultivate the seed of faith within our heart. Therefore we should never ever in our life tolerate hearing offences which are minimizing the position of Krishna or our spiritual master because these words have a very, very deep affect on the subtle consciousness and create havoc to our faith. Even if in our external consciousness, we think “I have heard this so many times,it does not disturb me”. We may think like that. But we do not understand that we may think we are very advanced externally but in our heart’s we are still neophytes. And these words penetrate through the superficial conceptions of our own spiritual advancement that, “yes I am strong and stable in my devotional life, that I can hear these things. It will not bother me. It will not disturb me. It will not go on with my service”. But in our subtle stratum of consciousness a havoc is taking place to our faith.
When the real test is there of surrender at that time we will not be able to perceive with our superficial gross consciousness. Our activities will have to be based on the very, very internal subtle realizations of the heart. That’s all we have when the test come. When Krishna really wants to test us, He obliterates our superficial promise of Krishna Consciousness and at that time we realize, my god, my faith is week. What I have heard is actually disturbing me very much. How will I surrender? Where is my trust? So therefore one must be very, very careful by the order of Krishna to protect his spiritual life, by protecting his faith, by maintaining the trust that “guru is our ever well wisher” because Krishna is our ever well wisher.
Ever Well Wisher
Did you ever think of what that means “ever well wisher?” That means forever. That means He is not only the well wisher of this life. You may have a mother and father who are on a very, very gross level of consciousness. They are our well wishers. But their all well wishing sentiments only survive for a few years. At the time they die or at the time we die, they are not any longer our well wisher. In fact they will not even recognize who we are?
So we may have well wishers in this world. But only those souls who are acting on behalf of God, they are our ever well wishers. They pray to God that I’ll come back birth after birth after birth in this material world, whatever is necessary till I can deliver this disciple to Your lotus feet in the spiritual world. So he is your ever well wisher. If you have that faith, then and only then, can you attain peace. Because then only can you accept that Krishna is the proprietor of everything and trust that I can give everything to Krishna. It all belongs to Him. I’ll use everything for His enjoyment because by doing so, it will be the ultimate service that I can do for all living beings and that is the ultimate benefit I can derive in my own heart and in my own life.
Surrender
Sometimes grihasthas they have their businesses but they are very afraid of surrender and very afraid of guru. What if he tells me to do like this? My god, I can surrender to something else but not that. What if he tells me to do like this? What if he just says its my attachment? What if he wants me to do it? What if he does not want me do what I want to do?
If you trust, if you have faith that he is always your well wisher, there will be no anxiety. You will say, yes whatever you ask, you tell, take it. Do what you want with it. I have faith in you. If you do not have faith, you are always like this, “after this borderline guru maharaja, you can give me nice instructions but do not go beyond that line because after that you are frenzying upon what is mine”. It is very dangerous. That means you do not faith. That means you do not have trust.
Krishna told Arjuna “kill your relatives, kill your grand father, kill Drona, your teacher. He loved them more than his life. That was a very difficult thing. He was only able to do it because he had complete faith. Sometimes we are tested,and asked to kill those objects of our love in this world. You see when you have this type of faith, when you have this type of trust you become completely fearless. Because the only fear in life is that we are going to loose something that we are attached to. If you have faith that guru is our well wisher and Krishna is our well wisher, everything is happening by the direction of Sri Krishna then what is that fear? There is nothing to fear because you have faith. Whatever Krishna does is for my good. Whatever condition of life comes ultimately it is for my good, I have faith. I want something but Krishna won’t give it to me. If I do not trust Krishna, I think Krishna why can’t I have what I want? But if you have faith in Krishna, you will think Krishna you are so kind. You are actually giving me just what I need, out of your love. So I’ll accept this and I’ll be in peace and I’ll be in happiness because I trust you. What to speak of, when He takes away what you already have and is most dear in your life. Krishna why are you taking this away from me? How will I live? If you do not have that trust, you become very disturbed. But if you have that trust, with folded hands you say Krishna it is very painful but let your will be done. That is my faith.
Therefore a devotee whether he is in life or death, he has nothing more than his faith in Krishna. If you have that faith, you have attained complete peace. And you should have that faith in the spiritual master who is the representative of Krishna, because after all, you can only love Krishna to the extent you will learn how to love your guru. If you love your spiritual master and you have faith and trust in him then there is no fear for you.
When you have a boil and you squeeze it, it hurts too much. I am speaking at the present time from immediate realizations,because I have several boils right now. So if you believe me, for those who do not have boils,if you even touch it, if you even breathe on it, if someone even looks at it, it is painful. What to speak of to squeeze it? Too much pain. But what happens if you do not have boils. You take any ordinary healthy part of your skin and squeeze it. You can squeeze it as hard you can. Nothing, no pain. So when the spiritual master or Krishna squeezes you,and if it hurts, it means there is an infection there. It means there is the pus of material attachment inflicting your consciousness. But when the guru squeezes and if it does not hurt, no matter how hard he squeezes, we just say yes, yes I surrender now. This is the song we sing in New Vrindavana every afternoon. I surrender now. I surrender all. Everyone has to sing that everyday, I surrender all. How many people have actually surrendered all? That is the most important thing.
When we surrender all, He squeezes the pus of our material attachments,and lets it just flow and flow. But if the guru does not squeeze, what happens? Then the infection remains within our heart. So in order for us to allow Him to squeeze, we must have faith that He is our well wisher. When we go to the doctor and he squeezes our infection, we must have trust that he is trying to help us. Otherwise will we allow him to do it? If a patient does not have faith in what they are doing, are they going to allow you close to them. They have complete faith that he is actually helping me. So therefore the basic foundation of our spiritual advancement and our peace in life is faith in guru and faith in Krishna. And we must cultivate to protect that faith by associating with persons who have faith, by hearing from them and by rendering service to them. Through the process of hearing submissively and rendering service “paripraçnena sevayä” this nourishes the seed of faith which is within our heart and then
“bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà
sarva-loka-maheçvaram
suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà
jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati”
Bhagavad-Gita 5.29
We will be very happy, we will be very glad to accept and admit that Krishna is the proprietor of everything. Everything I have and everything else is meant for His enjoyment and it is my greatest pleasure, it is my greatest purpose of life to simply surrender everything to Krishna and know that this is the only real happiness that I’ll ever experience in my life. Thank you very much.
QD:………..?
ANS: Amongst such ignorant people,we do not know anything, we have no real acquaintance. Their blaspheme is hardly even blaspheme because they do not know about anything. They are just talking. If you can see that you can actually change a person’s heart,then you can tolerate it to some extent. If you see that he is simply an atheist and he is not listening then you should not listen to anything he has to say. You should simply say namaste and walkout. Hare Krishna. Give him some Prasad and leave. Do not waste your time with such crazy minded people. But people who actually are hideous who have a personal grudge against Krishna or our guru and are trying to blaspheme on that level, such persons we cannot listen to, even for a second. These people are people who do not know anything about anyone. They are talking craziness. That is the difference between someone who is specifically trying to blaspheme a personality. We should not associate with such persons. We should never hear what they have to say under any condition. They do not even know what they are saying. So we just say, yes sorry, you are very nice just give me this donation and take this Prasad. Then say alright very nice. We can tolerate that.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
