Limited and temporary results
By following the rituals prescribed in the karma-kanda section of the Vedas, one can obtain pious material benefits, but such results are very limited and temporary. This is confirmed in many passages
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Limited and temporary results
By following the rituals prescribed in the karma-kanda section of the Vedas, one can obtain pious material benefits, but such results are very limited and temporary. This is confirmed in many passages from the scriptures, such as this:
tad yatheha karma-cito loko kṣīyate,
evam evāmutra puṇya-cito loko kṣīyate
"Just as in this world the results earned by pious acts are destroyed in due time, also in the next life the position earned by pious acts is destroyed." (Chāndogya Upanisad 8.1.6)
One may be elevated to the celestial planets due to the performance of fruitive activities, but one will not be able to stay there forever. In due time, one will be forced to relinquish one's position there and fall back to a less favorable position on Earth, or even to the lower planets. In this way, the position one may attain in the celestial planets is no different from any position one may attain here on this planet: both are temporary.
What is the context of this verse?
This is from the 8th part of the Chāndogya Upanisad, which brings the conclusions of the whole text. It comes immediately after the conversation between Nārada Muni and Sanat-kumāra.
This particular verse is part of the initial instructions, where the position of the soul and the Lord inside the heart is described. Inside the heart is a space with a lotus-like abode, the abode of the Supersoul. Since everything exists inside the Lord, the whole creation is also reflected inside the heart. The Upaniṣad mentions that within the heart exist both the heaven and earth, fire and air, the Sun and the Moon, the constellations, etc., everything that exists externally also exists there. How is it possible? This is due to the mystical opulence of the Lord. Just as mother Yaśodā could see the whole universe, including herself, situated inside the mouth of Krsna, when the Lord expands Himself as Paramātmā and enters the heart, He is not separated from His potencies and opulences. In this way, everything becomes present together with Him. This abode of the Lord, where the soul lives together with the Lord, is not affected by the state of the body. It does not wither as the body becomes old, is not destroyed when the body dies, and is not even affected by piety or impiety.
One who knows this Supreme Lord residing inside the heart becomes liberated and fully satisfied, just like the Lord. He becomes free and can go anywhere in the creation as he pleases, and he doesn't have to accept another body. One who doesn't, however, remains bound to the cycle of birth and death. He is forced to enter into another body when the current one expires, and then another, in a perpetual cycle. Even if he, by the performance of pious activities, attains the celestial planets, he later falls, as explained in the verse.
This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.20-21):
trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā, yajñair iṣṭvā svar-gatiṁ prārthayante
te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam, aśnanti divyān divi deva-bhogān
te taṁ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṁ viśālaṁ, kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti
evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā, gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante
"Those who study the Vedas and drink the soma juice, seeking the heavenly planets, worship Me indirectly. Purified of sinful reactions, they take birth on the pious, heavenly planet of Indra, where they enjoy godly delights. When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death."
Verses like these make clear the necessity of inquiring about transcendental knowledge, which can take one out of the cycle of birth and death and help to approach the Supreme Brahman.
In the Mundaka Upaniṣad, Angirasa makes many powerful references in this direction, criticizing the performance of fruitive activities and urging us to instead meditate on the Supreme Lord and approach the transcendental platform. The first section of the book is dedicated to explaining that although all Vedic knowledge is valuable, not all have the same value. The Vedas offer different processes of spiritual development aimed at different classes of people. Just as there are people of different mentalities, there are also different grades of knowledge described in the Vedas, starting with descriptions of material sciences and fruitive activities, and culminating with transcendental knowledge.
Everything that directly describes the Lord and devotional service to Him is defined as parā-vidyā (superior knowledge), and everything else, dealing with material subjects, is classified as aparā-vidyā (inferior knowledge). Knowledge is considered inferior when employed in a ritualistic sense, and superior when directly expressing Lord Vishnu and service to Him. When we miss the real purpose of the Vedas and instead use the Vedas to just try to improve our position in this material world, we deal with inferior knowledge.
The path of karma-kanda offered in the Vedas is strongly based on the performance of fire sacrifices. When these sacrifices are performed with material desires, they produce only temporary material results, and even then, only if properly performed. However, when the same sacrifices are performed by pure transcendentalists, solely for the satisfaction of the Lord, they obtain devotional service to the Lord and freedom from birth and death. The same external action can thus bring one to different results according to the mentality of the performer, as Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Sacrifices performed with perfect knowledge and without material desires carry the performer to the spiritual sky, and that's the reason we see many examples in the scriptures of pure devotees performing sacrifices. However, Angirasa condemns the materialistic performers who perform fruitive sacrifices to obtain material enjoyment, comparing their sacrifices to rotten boats, incapable of crossing the ocean of birth and death. Fruitive activities are offered in the scriptures simply as a way to attract the masses and gradually lead them on the path of self-realization. If one remains stuck in this platform, he is defined as a fool who misses the true goal of the Vedas.
After many lives as a karmi, going through the process of performing fruitive activities and being elevated to the celestial planets, just to be tossed back, one starts inquiring about spiritual knowledge. He then approaches a bona fide spiritual master in all humility.
Without receiving true spiritual knowledge from a self-realized soul, one will have access to just the superficial meaning of the verses of the scriptures, and will thus never be able to reach the ultimate conclusion. Conversely, by receiving brahma-vidyā, perfect spiritual knowledge, and practicing these instructions, the sincere student can finally attain ultimate perfection.
This leads us to the next verse quoted by Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa that concludes this whole section of the Mundaka Upaniṣad:
parīkṣya lokān karma-citān brāhmaṇo
nirvedam āyān nasty akṛtaḥ kṛtena
tad vijñānārtham sa gurum evābhigacchet
samit pāṇiḥ śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham
"After examining the results of fruitive activities, the seeker of the truth understands their ephemeral nature. To learn transcendental subject matters, one must approach the spiritual master. In doing so, he should carry fuel to burn in sacrifice. The symptom of such a spiritual master is that he is an expert in understanding the Vedic conclusion, and therefore, he constantly engages in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12)
Outside the repeated birth and death of the fruitive path, the Supreme Brahman is the reservoir of eternal, unlimited spiritual bliss. This is confirmed by many statements in the scriptures, including the Taittirīya Upanisad:
satyam jñānam anantam brahma
"The Supreme Brahman has no limits. He is eternal and full of knowledge." (Taittirīya Upanisad 2.1.2)
ānando brahmeti vyajānat
"Having further increased his spiritual understanding, he realized Brahman as spiritual bliss." (Taittirīya Upanisad 3.6.1)
However, who is this Supreme Brahman? What are His qualities? Many study the Upaniṣads and conclude that Brahman is a formless and homogeneous entity devoid of qualities. However, numerous verses of the scriptures contest this understanding, emphasizing that the Supreme Brahman is not only eternal and full of knowledge, but also endowed with transcendental qualities.
Many of these passages are found in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, a book that guides us through different stages of the process of self-realization, helping one to ascend beyond the impersonal concept, all the way to the platform of devotional service to the Lord.
Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa mentions three passages from there:
na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca
"The Supreme Lord does not possess a bodily form like that of an ordinary living entity. He performs no action, and no one is found to be equal to or greater than Him. His potencies are multifarious, and thus His deeds are automatically performed as a natural sequence." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8)
sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriya-vivarjitam
asaktaṁ sarva-bhṛc caiva nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca
"The Supersoul is the original source of all senses, yet He is without senses. He is unattached, although He is the maintainer of all living beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time, He is the master of all modes of material nature." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.17)
bhāva-grāhyam anidākhyam bhāva-abhāva-karaṁ śivam
kāla-sarga-karaṁ devaṁ ye vidus te jahuḥ tanum
“The Supreme Lord is attained only by loving devotional service. He is known as having no material body and no material support. He is the creator and destroyer of the entire universe, and supremely auspicious. Those who have come to realize this Supreme Lord attain freedom from repeated birth and death.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.14)
One may question how these verses prove that the Lord has a transcendental form since the first verse says the Lord doesn't have a bodily form, the second says He is without senses, and the third that he doesn't possess a material body. This is exactly one source of many misinterpretations: taking just one idea mentioned in a verse, or one verse out of many, and using it to sustain an idea that is not at all supported in the text. Getting the correct understanding passes through understanding all the ideas in the passage together and in context.
In the first verse, for example, it's mentioned that the Lord performs actions through His multiple potencies. This same point is also made in the second verse of the Vedanta-sutra: janmādy asya yataḥ. Everything emanates from the absolute truth, which indicates that not only does the Lord possess multiple potencies, but also intent and desire to create. The Lord has no material form, has no material desires, and performs no material actions, because His form, desires, and actions exist in the transcendental platform. These are the other three quarters of Brahman which exist outside of our material vision, indicated by Yājñavalkya to Janaka in the Brhad-Aranyaka Upanisad.
The second verse mentions the Lord as the original source of all senses, which indicates He does have senses. However, His senses are not material, as indicated by the mention of Him transcending the modes of nature and being the master of the modes. Therefore, His body is spiritual in all respects.
The third verse also speaks about the activities of the Lord, by mentioning that his devotees become liberated from this world, attaining freedom from birth and death. This indicates not only the existence of spiritual forms but also of transcendental activities, transcendental relationships, and unlimited spiritual bliss, as confirmed in many other passages from the Upaniṣads, and later clarified by Vyāsadeva in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The fact that the Lord gives to His devotees a position of transcendental bliss is confirmed in the Gopāla-Tāpanī Upanisad (1.21):
tam pīṭhasthaṁ ye tu yajanti dhīrāḥ teṣāṁ sukhaṁ śāśvataṁ netareṣām
"The saintly devotees who worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His sacred throne, as the leader of all demigods and the One seated inside the heart of all living entities, attain the eternal transcendental bliss that is unavailable to others."
The Gopāla-Tāpanī Upaniṣad explicitly defines Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotional service to Him as the ultimate goal of life. This Upanisad is divided into two parts, the first spoken by Brahma and the second spoken by Krsna Himself. In this Upanisad, Brahma describes his realization in meeting Krsna after performing his one thousand celestial years of meditation, before the creation of the universe, just as he describes in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Right at the beginning of the first session, he declares:
taduhovāca hairaṇyo gopa-veśam
abhrābhaṁ taruṇaṁ kalpadrumāśritaṁ
"He, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears in the dress of a cowherd. Dark like a raincloud, ever youthful, He sits under a desire tree." (Gopāla-Tāpanī Upanisad 1.8)
Considering that Brahma, the highest living entity in the universe, who is the most qualified and has direct experience (having personally met the Lord at the beginning of creation), describes the personal form of the Supreme Lord and propagates devotional service to Him as the ultimate goal, and that Vyāsadeva, the compiler of the Vedas, convey this same conclusion in all detail in the Srimad Bhagavatam, even the most stubborn skeptics can't negate these truths. The idea that the Supreme Brahman appears in a material form due to falling under the three material modes of nature is a fantasy or a conspiracy theory at best. The Māyāvādī imagine that Brahma, Vyāsadeva, and the Supreme Lord Himself are mistaken about the ultimate nature of the absolute truth, while he, with his limited brain, is the only one who can see everything clearly. This is ludicrous.
The temporary nature and ultimate uselessness of the material results one can get by following the karma-kanda section of the Vedas will be discussed in more detail later (in the 3rd chapter of the Vedanta-sutra), but it all comes down to understanding the difference between temporary and eternal. One who understands the eternal loses the attraction to the temporary and starts the practice of devotional service and cultivation of transcendental knowledge, which includes the study of the Vedanta-sutra.
The progression from following the path of pious fruitive activity described in the karma-kanda section of the Vedas to a platform of devotional service is, however, not automatic. It requires the association of saintly devotees. Only by this association does one become eager to understand Brahman and ascend to the spiritual platform. Otherwise, one may stay for many lives in the process of going up and down in the fruitive path.
On the other hand, a person who didn't study the karma-kanda section and performed fruitive sacrifices and regulations can be directly elevated to a platform of devotional service by coming in contact with devotees. The association of devotees is thus the decisive factor; the path of fruitive activity is unnecessary. One doesn't even have to possess high personal qualities, since by accepting a self-realized soul as a spiritual master and faithfully following his instructions, one automatically develops saintly qualities, as can be observed in disciples of Srila Prabhupada and many other instances.
Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa lists three kinds of persons who come to inquire into the nature of Brahman, coming from the path of pious life:
1) Sa-niṣṭha (the ones who faithfully perform their duties, living pious lives, as recommended in the scriptures);
2) Pariniṣṭhā (persons who act philanthropically for the benefit of all living entities);
3) Nirapekṣa (persons who are absorbed in meditation, being aloof from the activities of this world).
From this, we can see that although by the mercy of devotees, anyone can start on the path of devotional service, there is a natural progression where one gradually evolves from a sinful life into a pious life, and from there, eventually becomes interested in what is higher.
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