His Divine Grace
Srila Bhakti Rakshaka Sridhar Dev Goswami Maharaj’s explanation
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś,
chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi,
dṛṣṭa evātmanīśvare
“Thus, the knot in the heart is pierced, and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the self as master.” (S-B, 1.2.21)
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś,
chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi,
mayi dṛṣṭe ‘khilātmani
“The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when I am seen as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (S-B, 11.20.30)
“Our inner aspiration for rasa, ecstasy, is buried in the heart and the heart is tied down and sealed. But hearing and chanting the glories of Kṛṣṇa breaks the seal of the heart, and the heart awakens and opens to receive Kṛṣṇa: the reservoir of pleasure, ecstasy Himself (rasa vai saḥ, akhila rasāmṛta murtiḥ ).”
Here Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is saying: “There is a knot within our hearts, but that knot will be torn asunder by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. At that time, the flow of our innate tendency for divine love (svarūpa śakti) will inundate the whole heart. When the knot of the heart is torn apart, then, as the sleeping soul awakens, the Goloka conception within will emerge and inundate his entire being.”
But this is apparently a difficult problem. How is it possible that all our doubts may be cleared? Is it possible for the finite to know everything? This statement seems rather inconsistent. It seems absurd. The Upaniṣads, however, say: “Whoever knows Him knows everything, who gets Him gets everything.” (See also śloka 590). How will the finite know that he has everything, that he has known everything? It appears absurd, but it is confirmed in the scriptures. And if this problem is solved, then all problems are solved automatically. The finite will realise wholesale satisfaction; and all his inquisitive tendencies will be satisfied. This is confirmed not only in the Upaniṣads, but also in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
“When the soul directly beholds Me as the Supreme Soul within all souls, his mundane ego is dissolved, all his doubts are slashed, and all his worldly deeds are annihilated.” (S-B, 11.20.30) This is a scientific measurement, and of course, science of the transcendental world is not to be applied in the nature of the mundane. By this standard of adjustment, we shall gradually make progress towards proper adjustment. If the centre is clear, then, of course, the circumference is properly located. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the centre, and in that consciousness every event can be found to be properly adjusted. In this way, by that inner satisfaction and realisation one can measure his personal progress.But this does not mean that his thirst will be quenched; rather, it will increase. But the assurance will come that the direction is the right direction. “I am now making progress in the proper line, because many new things can be explained by that formula. They seemed to be unintelligible and meaningless. Now, what I am told to be the Absolute is harmonising all these things hitherto unharmonised. These points are being solved.
So, chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ: the doubts are being cleared, and more satisfaction of a wide and spacious nature, the solution, will be felt in the heart of one who is a real student, a regular student of the Bhāgavata school. chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ is a great thing. We cannot accommodate this within the narrow shell of our brain! “All doubts should be cleared? What is this?” It is inconceivable that all doubts will be cleared. But everything will be solved if we accept the harmonising centre in such a point as advised by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu – the Kṛṣṇa-conception of the Absolute.”
Then, bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiḥ: all the ties and entanglements, corners and angles, vanish. Crookedness vanishes. He finds himself in the midst of a straight, plain, graphic, spacious and all-embracing temperament. His atmosphere changes. All the ties of so many attractions to various achievements are at once dissolved. They have no necessity in this land.
Hṛdayenābhyanujñāto (Manu 2.1): Internal approval comes to assure you that you have arrived in your own land. chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ: there is no room for any doubt. You will find that all your hankerings are more than fulfilled here: “I was searching; my whole body was searching.”
In Vaiṣṇava-padāvali (Anthology of Vaiṣṇava Songs, jñāna Dasa), there is an expression: prati aṅga lāge kānde prati aṅga mora. (See śloka 410). In the acme of Divinity, Madhura-rasa, where Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is Śakti (the Divine Potency of the Lord), She says: “My every limb is crying for the respective limb of My Lord; not only My Self, but every part of My Body earnestly aspires for the corresponding part of My Master’s.”
chidyante sarvva-saṁśayāḥ – Every part bears witness: “Yes, we have reached the destination we were striving for, this is our full-fledged satisfaction. This is my soil; this is my home!” Every atom of the body will say it. No trace of any doubt will be found, for there is no longer any room for that. But every atom will find its fulfilment: “This is my home; this is my home! I am in home comfort, I find.”
kṣīyante cāsya karmmāṇi: (The Lord says about His devotee) “And the force of reaction won’t come to trouble him, to drag him down or attract him backwards. That, too, is severed.” mayi dṛṣṭe ‘khilātmani: “I am the fullest of the full perfection. He will be able to trace My friendship.”
This should be the course of our life, our cherished goal. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam tells us this. Home, sweet, sweet home. You are a child of that soil. In one word, that is the goal. (Why is that the highest goal? – see also śloka 491) (S-B, 11.20.30) + (SOTGOD, v 2, p 80-1)
For one who receives the seed of devotion, who is selfless and penitent, denouncing his inability to abandon mundane enjoyment despite realising it to be the embodiment of suffering, and who sincerely gives himself incessantly to all the practices of devotion – in the heart of such a devotee, the Supreme Lord ascends like the rising sun to annihilate all ignorance with its reactions, revealing His divine personality in all its pristine glory.
“He who has imbibed heart’s faith in the tidings of My Name, nature and pastimes; who has become indifferent to all kinds of fruitive work and its rewards; who has learned that all kinds of enjoyment of sensual passions ultimately transform into misery, yet he is unable to fully abandon such passions – such a faithful devotee, being determined that his shortcomings will be dispelled by the potency of devotion, gradually comes to abhor those evil passions that enslave him, knowing the havoc they wreak – and he serves Me with love: when his object is pure and sincere, I give him My mercy.”
“In this way, the introspective devotee unceasingly absorbs himself in all the practices of devotional service as enunciated by Me. And I, who am situated in the heart of My devotee, strike at the root of all the material urges that infect his heart, reducing them to oblivion.”
“By bringing Me – the Soul of all souls – into his heart, no evil can remain there. Swiftly is the hard knot of mundane ego severed, all doubts are slashed, and all mundane action is exhausted for that earnestly aspiring devotee.” (S-B, 11.20.27-28-29-30) + (SSPJ, p 165)
Ultimately the conception of guru will come to Kṛṣṇa. In this highest sense, Kṛṣṇa is guru. Who can remove all our doubts, and satisfy all our enquiries? It is Kṛṣṇa alone. Gradually our faith will develop and take us to the one who can clear all our doubts. We may have doubts upon doubts. One doubt may go and thousands of doubts may come, but guru is one who can clear all our doubts.
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś, chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ. (S-B, 1.2.21). Who can do away with all the suspicion in our mind; it is He who is full. In this way we must progress. The birth of our
faith may be in intellectualism, but its goal is transcendental. The birth of our search and its destination will come to meet together. The birth of faith is from the potency of Kṛṣṇa, and after moving through the whole of the infinite it will come again to the potency where we will take our eternal position.” (SEOC, p 122)
“Your quest will be fulfilled only when you come to such a stage. bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś (S-B, 11.20.30): your heart is sealed. That seal will be broken. There is a knot – that will be torn. The flow will come out towards Me. The heart is in bondage. If it is untied, the easy and natural flow will come to Me. The tie is removed and the heart will flow with love towards Me. chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ: your searching trouble will be ended. No more search will be necessary. Always searching for better, better, better – that will be ended. kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi: From your previous life, your obligation to the environment will also disappear. mayi dṛṣṭe ‘khilātmani: when you will find that I am everywhere, I am the party with whom you have to deal with. So, I can satisfy you wholly.”
As our Guru Mahārāja said: “If there is fire, don’t try to extinguish it and afterwards come to Kṛṣṇa. There is no necessity of extinguishing fire. All your internal necessity is with Kṛṣṇa. But you go to extinguishing fire as though you have some necessity with the thing to be burned? No, no. You have no such necessity. The whole thing may be reduced to ashes – you won’t lose anything. All your necessity is in the Divine Feet of Kṛṣṇa.
He can supply, He can manage. He can give you the fullest engagement, naturally in your serving relationship with Him mayi dṛṣṭe ‘khilātmani: “Wherever you cast your glance you will see that I am there. Maybe you want to do good to others? But you will see that I am there; so your attempt to do good is not necessary. I am fully conscious of any benefit. So you can bestow nothing.” He has the best interest and the best liking for everyone. He is there. So all other considerations are cancelled. “There is only you, and Myself. All others are subsidiary.” Of course, this is in a general sense. Then further, readjustment comes through Yogamāyā, in a serving group. There, another development will arise, where everything is similar but not the same. Crossing the layer of satisfaction, there is again dissatisfaction: “I am not getting the service of Kṛṣṇa.” Not a drop to drink – only hankering, hankering, hankering. “How can I get a drop of this nectar to drink?” That will be a further development. And Kṛṣṇa’s different aspects will be unfolded to our hankering, and we will find infinite love. (S-B, 11.20.30) + (SCS, p 35-7)
This famous śloka of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.20.30), explains that when you eat something, your belly will give witness. It will say: “Yes I am eating.” Hunger will be satisfied, the body nourished, and there will be the fulfilment of having been fed. The body will be nourished and will gain strength, and, along with all this, will be your own inner approval of having eaten. Furthermore there will be no longer any feeling of necessity to eat more and more. Similarly in spiritual life so many symptoms will come to give proof of your progress.” (HC, p 23) + (see also śloka 534)
Everything is polaric and everything is good. To read negative, and to read bad is injurious. That is our false ego. We are to get out above that. The false calculating ego; that is ego in bondage. Ego in bondage means, the ego calculating falsely – false, mis-reading, miscalculation, misdeeds. However, through the help of the agents of the harmonious world, and by the advice and books that come from that harmonious world and with the help of sādhu-saṅga, we can get relief from our present diseased condition. We are in disease. hṛdaya-granthiś – heart disease! The disease is in the centre. Heart is the feeler; that has been accepted as the centre and the brain, the calculation? The brain is like a computer, if it works as well; that is, if it can read the environment with a normal heart – through a normal heart! bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś.
A wonderful śloka. Your heart is sealed! The feeling portion, the reading portion of you is sealed. Break up the seal and then you will come to feel everything is your friend. bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś. Our attempt should be to break the seal by the real ego. The real ego has been covered, sealed. But, the seal should be broken! The natural feeling should be allowed to flow out, we should be allowed to feel. Then you will find that everything is all right.
Your brain will say: “Yes, now I find every calculation reaches the desired result.” The computer will say likewise. And the heart? The heart will be opened. Heart will be opened and ego, the selfish part, the cover of the heart, that will be broken, the seal will be broken. And the natural flow will come to feel properly what is good and what is bad. You will find what is tasteful and what is bitter. The real heart from within will come to justify. Then, the brain will come to see that everything is all right.
What is subservient to feeling – ānandam ? sat-cit, cit-caitya, knowledge. Above that knowledge is that central thing – ānandam, happiness, blissfulness, pleasure, joy. That is the signal for which everyone is searching. That feeling is the heart’s food, not the brain’s food. It is heart’s food which we are searching for, and that misrepresentation of the heart, that false, selfish ego, that is our worst enemy! It is unsatisfied, and always giving reports: “This is not good, it is not good.” And we are running hither and thither: “What is good?” We are searching for that! But, when the proper heart from within will come out, then, bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ: all doubts will be removed, we are in perfect harmony.
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi: The past dues will all be cleared immediately. The past dues of our karma, reaction, birth, what is to come on me to have its realisation, that will be finished in no time! We shall enter our natural harmony. Then, we shall see that like some evil dream, something came in the middle – it was like a mad dream. But now, I am awake and the dream is nowhere. Only, the eternal connection. Gaura Haribol! That is a wonderful śloka. bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś (S-B, 1.2.21).
Karma, that is reaction which I am to clear off from my previous activity. That will also disappear and the harmonious outlook will come in me. And how will it come? When the heart will be opened. We have to break open the heart! The heart! The feeling thing, that is the most original thing in us which feels joy, pleasure or pain. That feeling of pleasure and pain, that is the most important factor for us. (SS, v 3, # 1, ’85, p 3-4) + (see also śloka 602)
Our reinstating is possible. Reinstating ourselves to our lost cause, our real wealth, is possible independent of any kind of research into nature. Only break this seal. bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś, break the seal of the fort of the ego and then, the natural flow of reality will come and recognise you. It will have its own thing automatically. Such an arrangement is there. To come home, we will also have to take the guidance of a director. But you will not feel any devious or laborious sentiment. It will be natural. You will be carried by your natural affection independent of all external guides. The plane can understand its own soil, i,e, the natural gift of attraction. No scientific research is necessary for that. The automatic attraction – that will – is living there. Home!
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś, chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ, You will be able to put a stop to your intellectualism, intellectual ambition and aspiration – this is required. It is wild goose-chasing. It will never help me to reach my goal. You will reject that. chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ, there will be no room for any suspicion at all. Natural selection (by affection), infallible, wholesale selection, is there. Try to find out that natural thing. It is not acquired, not by the result of any long program of fulfilling, fighting, war – all these things. Quite natural. Only, the artificialism in you, that is to be removed. That is to be bid adieu for all times.
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś, chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ, kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi,
The reactions that you took so long to acquire in your false journey will withdraw without any effort in and of itself. No problem. No problem! It is such. No karma. There is no reaction and no necessity of finding a new discovery or invention. Progressive knowledge, advanced civilisation, etc., – these are all redundant. Home selection has such capacity.”
“When he finds Me everywhere – solution finished!” He is there – the duty is there – the Director, the All-dispensing Officer is there. He can make us leave everything. He is there – and what shall I feel is my duty towards this thing? All ties dissolved! No duty. Still, we will find some inclination to discharge our duty for Him, to serve Him. To help Him is such and that is our own reward.
Not that He wants it. That is: “Without my help in discharging duty or service towards Him, He will be undone or He will be imperfect?” – not that! No. My fulfilment is there. No want of accommodation, no bankruptcy is there. He can give us engagement, any number of engagements we can get there for our interest. He is all right. With or without my help, He can go. He can do. It is not for that purpose, but for my fulfilment that I want the connection of the Infinite. My service will not add something to that. However, I will be happy in the highest sense. He is there! Everywhere! Is He.” (SS, v 2, # 1, ’84, p 5-6) + (see also ślokas 382, 198 & 509)