The Perfection Of Spiritual Knowledge

 

 

Sri Uddhava said: My dear Lord Krsna, O chastier of the enemies, please tell me;

How many types of disciplinary regulations & regular daily duties there are?

Also my Lord, tell me;

What is mental equilibrium,

What is self control,

&

What is actual meaning of tolerance & steadfastness?

What are charity,

austerity

&

heroism

and

how the reality and truth to be described?

What is renunciation,

&

What is wealth?

What is desirable,

&

What is sacrifice,

What is religious remuneration?

My dear Kes’ava, O most fortunate one,

How am I to understand strength,

opulence

&

profit of a particular person?

What is the best education,

What is actual humility,

&

What is real beauty?

What are happiness & unhappiness?

Who is learned & who is a fool?

What are the true & the false paths in life,

&

What are heaven & hell?

Who is indeed a true friend,

&

What is one’s real home?

Who is a rich man,

and

Who is a poor man?

Who is wretched,

&

Who is an actual controller?

O Lord of the devotees, kindly explain these matters to me, along with their opposites.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said:

Nonviolence, truthfulness, not coveting or stealing the property of others, detachment, humility, freedom from possessiveness, trust in the principles of religion, celibacy, silence, steadiness, forgiveness & fearlessness are the twelve primary disciplinary principles.

Internal cleanliness, external cleanliness, chanting the holy names of the Lord, austerity, sacrifice, faith, hospitality, worship of Me,

visiting holy places, acting and desiring only for the supreme interest, satisfaction & service to the spiritual master are the twelve elements of regular prescribed duties.

These twenty four elements bestow all desired benedictions upon those persons who devotedly cultivate them.

Absorbing the intelligence in Me constitutes mental equilibrium

&

complete discipline of the senses is self control.

Tolerance means patiently enduring unhappiness,

&

steadfastness occurs when one conquers the tongue and genital.

The greatest charity is to give up all aggression toward others,

&

renunciation of lust is understood to be real austerity.

Real heroism is to conquer one’s natural tendency to enjoy material life

&

Reality is seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead everywhere.

Truthfulness means to speak the truth in a pleasing way, as declared by great sages.

Cleanliness is detachment in fruitive activities,

whereas

Renunciation is the sannyasa order of life.

The true desirable wealth for human being is religiousness, and I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, am sacrifice.

Religious remuneration is devotion to the acharya with the purpose of acquiring spiritual instruction, and the greatest strength is the Pranayam system of breath control.

Actual opulence is My own nature as the personality of Godhead, through which I exhibit the six unlimited opulences.

The Supreme gain in life is devotional service to me, and

Actual education is nullifying the false perception of duality within the soul.

Real modesty is to be disgusted with improper activities,

&

Beauty is to possess good qualities such as detachment.

Real happiness is to transcend material happiness and unhappiness,

&

Real misery is to be implicated in searching for sex pleasure.

A wise man is one who knows the process of freedom from bondage,

&

a fool is one who identifies with his material body and mind.

The real path in life is that, which leads to Me

&

the wrong path is sense gratification, by which consciousness is bewildered.

Actual heaven is the predominance of the mode of goodness, whereas

hell is the predominance of ignorance.

I am everyone’s true friend,

acting as the spiritual master of the entire universe

&

One’s home is the human body.

My dear Uddhava, one who is enriched with good qualities is actually said to be rich,

and one who is unsatisfied in life is actually poor.

A wretched person is one who cannot control his senses,

whereas

One who is not attached to sense gratification is a real controller.

One who attaches himself to sense gratification is the opposite, a slave.

Thus, Uddhava, I have elucidated all of the matters about which you enquired. There is no need for more elaborate description of these good and bad habits (qualities), since to constantly see good and bad is itself a bad quality.

The best quality is to transcend material good and evil (to be Brahmarup).

Source: Shrimadbhagvatam

 

Thanks For Reading

Jai Swaminarayan

Gaurav S Kaintura

24 Nov 2017