Sri Priti-sandarbha

Srila Jiva Gosvami

Anuccheda 2

In srimad-Bhagavatam (6.16.63) it is said:

etavan eva manujair
yoga-naipunya-buddhibhih svarthah sarvatmana jneyo
yat paratmaika-darsanam

"Persons who try to reach the ultimate goal of life must expertly observe the Supreme Absolute Person and the living entity, who are one in quality in their relationship as part and whole. This is the ultimate understanding of life. There is no better truth than this."

In his commentary on this verse srila sridhara Svami explains:
"The gist of this verse is: `There is no higher goal of life than this.' This verse says: `They whose intelligence is expert at yoga see that they are one in quality with the Supreme."

These words may also mean: "They fix their gaze on the supremely liberated Personality of Godhead." This verse was spoken by Lord Sankarsana to King Citraketu.

Anuccheda 3

Liberation attained at the moment of death is of two kinds: immediate and gradual. The first kind of liberation, Immediate liberation, is described in these words of srimad-Bhagavatam (2.2.15-21):
sthiram sukham casanam. . .visrjet param gatah

"O king, whenever the yogi desires to leave this planet of human beings, he should not be perplexed about the proper time or place, but should comfortably sit without being disturbed and, regulating the life air, should control the senses by the mind.Thereafter, the yogi should merge his mind, by his unalloyed intelligence, into the living entity, and then merge the living entity into the Superself. And by doing this the fully satisfied living entity becomes situated in the supreme stage of satisfaction, so that he ceases from all other activities.

"In that transcendental state of labdhopasanti, there is no supremacy of devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods who are empowered to rule over mundane cratures. 9And what tio speak of the demigods themselves?) Nor is there the mode of material goodness, nor passion, nor ignorance, nor even the false ego, nor the material Causal Ocean, nor the material nature.

"The transcendentalists desire to avoid everything godless, for they know that supreme situation in which everything is related with the Supreme Lord Visnu. Therefore a pure devotee who is in absolute harmony with the Lord does not create perplexities, but worships the lotus feet of the Lord at every moment, taking them into his heart.

"By the strength of scientific knowledge, one should be well situated in absolute realization and thus be able to extinguish all material desires. One should then give up the material body by blocking the air hole (through which stool is evacuated) with the heel of one's foot and by lifting the life air from one place to another in the six primary places.

"The meditative devotee should slowly push up the life air from the navel to the heart, from there to the chest and from there to the root of the palate. He should search out the proper places with intelligence.

"Thereafter the bhakti-yogi should push the life air up between the eyebrows, and then, blocking the seven outlets of the life air, he should maintain his aim for going home, back to Godhead. If he is completely free from all desires for material enjoyment, he should then reach the cerebral hole and give up his material connections, having gone to the Supreme."

The second kind of liberation, gradual liberation, is described in these words of srimad-Bhagavatam (2.2.22-31):
yadi prayasyan nrpa paramesthyam. . .tenatmanatmanam upaiti santam

"However, O king, if a yogi maintains a desire for improved material enjoyments, like transference to the topmost planet, Brahmaloka, or the achievement of the eightfold perfections, travel in outer space with the Vaihayasas, or a situation in one of the millions of planets, then he has to take away with him the materially molded mind and senses.

"The transcendentalists are concerned with the spiritual body. As such, by the strength of their devotional service, austerities, mystic power, and transcendental knowledge, their movements are unrestricted, within and beyond the material worlds. The fruitive workers, or the gross materialists, can never move in such an unrestricted manner.

"O king, when such a mystic passes over the Milky Way by the illuminating Susumna to reach the highest planet, Brahmaloka, he goes first to Vaisvanara, the planet of the deity of fire, wherein he becomes completely cleansed of all contaminations, and thereafter he goes still higher, to the circle of sisumara, to relate with Lord Hari, the Personality of Godhead.

"This Sisumara is the pivot for the turning of the complete universe, and it is called the navel of Visnu (Garbhodakasayi Visnu). The yogi alone goes beyond this circle of sisumara and attains the planet (Maharloka) where purified saints like Bhrgu enjoy a duration of life of 4,300,000,000 solar years. This planet is worshipable even for the saints who are transcendentally situated.

"At the time of the final devastation of the complete universe (the end of the duration of Brahma's life), a flame of fire emanates from the mouth of Ananta (from the bottom of the universe). The yogi sees all the planets of the universe burning to ashes, and thus he leaves for Satyaloka by airplanes used by the great purified souls. The duration of life in Satyaloka is calculated to be 15,480,000,000,000 years.

"In that planet of Satyaloka there is neithger bereavement, nor old age, nor death. There is no pain of any kind, and therefore there are no anxieties, save that sometimes, due to consciousness, there is a feeling of compassion for those unaware of the process of devotional service, who are subjected to unsurpassable miseries in the material world.

"After reaching Satyaloka, the devotee is specifically able to be incorporated fearlessly by the subtle body in an identity similar to that of the gross body, and one after another he gradually attains stages of existence from earthly to watery, fiery, glowing, and airy, until he reaches the ethereal stage.

"The devotee thus surpasses the subtle objects of different senses like aroma by smelling, the palate by tasting, vision by seeing forms, touch by contacting, the vibrations of the ear by ethereal identification, and the sense organs by material activities.

"The devotee, thus surpassing the gross and subtle forms of coverings, enters the plane of egoism. And in that ststus he merges the material modes of nature (ignorance and passion) in this point of neutralization and thus reaches egoism in goodness. After this, all egoism is merged in the mahat-tattva, and he comes to the point of pure self- realization.

"Only the purified soul can attain the perfection of associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in complete bliss and satisfaction in his constitutional state. Whoever is able to renovate such devotional perfection is never again attracted by this material world, and he never returns."

It is also seen that one may be liberated even while living in this material world. How, by directly seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one may liberated while still living in the material world is described in these words of srimad- Bhagavatam (1.3.33):
yatreme sad-asad-rupe
pratisiddhe sva-samvida avidyayatmani krte
iti tad brahma-darsanam

"Whenever a person experiences, by self-realization, that both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the self, at that time he sees himself as well as the Lord."
This verse says: "A person learns, by self- realization, the truth about the gross and subtle material bodies." What kind of truth does the soul learn? The soul learns that "both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the self". At that time the soul directly sees the Supreme. Then the soul understands his own true nature. The soul understands liberation. But that does not mean that the soul ceases to exist. When he understands that the idea that he is identical with the gross and subtle material bodies is an illusion, and when he then directly sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the soul attains liberation, even though he may remain alive in the material world. That is the meaning of this verse. This verse was spoken by srila Suta Gosvami.