The Sage Page / Vol. 3 Episodes 490 - 495

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 / Chapter 15 / Texts 34 - 50 / July 19 - 25, 2021

The Illusion of Dualities

Our minds are programed, through the senses, to accept that certain externals will bring us happiness and other externals will bring us unhappiness - some are friends and others are enemies, etc. This type of thinking banned the doorkeepers from Vaikuntha (the place of no anxiety) and sent them to the material world. See Bhagavad-gita 7.27
(Ep. 490)

• Liberation stands with folded palms, eager to serve the Bhakti-yogi.
  
  Many consider mukti (liberation from the influence and sufferings of the material energy) to be the highest spiritual goal. Srimad Bhagavatam sets out to clarify that Bhakti is the highest goal, and delivers atma-suprasidati (complete satisfaction of the self).
  
  Sukadeva Goswami in the 1st Canto, and the Four Kumaras in the 3rd Canto, are preeminent examples of liberated souls who went still further, to Bhakti.
  
  That the goal of mukti is achieved without separate endeavor by the bhakti yogi is highlighted in many places including Srimad Bhagavtam 1.2.7 and in the following verse by the saint, Bilvamangala Thakur.
  
  "If I am engaged in devotional service unto You, my dear Lord, then very easily can I perceive Your presence everywhere. And as far as liberation is concerned, I think liberation stands at my door with folded hands waiting to serve me." (Ep. 491)
  

• Visnu Pervades Everything

  The very name Vishnu indicates one who pervades. Just as our consciousness pervades our entire body and therefore, in a sense, it is ours, similarly Vishnu's consciousness pervades the entire universe as the Paramatma (the Supreme Self) and therefore the entire universe is His body.
  
  Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport to text 3.15.45 – "By meditation one can understand that God is seated within one’s heart. Even if one does not know it, God is seated within the heart of everyone. Not only is He seated in the heart of the human being, but He is also within the hearts of cats and dogs. Bhagavad-gītā certifies this fact by the declaration of the Lord, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe. The īśvara, the supreme controller of the world, is seated in the heart of everyone. Not only is He in everyone’s heart, but He is also present within the atom. No place is vacant or devoid of the presence of the Lord. That is the statement of Īśopaniṣad. God is present everywhere, and His right of proprietorship applies to everything." (Ep. 492)