Bhakti is superior to Impersonalism (12.1 – 12.7)

(d) For an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’

(h) Best solution – For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way

COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS
SNo	IMPERSONALIST	PERSONALIST
IN TERMS OF PRACTICE
1	Meditate on formless difficult for embodied	Meditate on form of deity easy for embodied
2	Unimanifested is beyond the senses restricts the senses	Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of mantra engages the senses
3	Must understand the brahman through Upanisads etc. learn the language sanskrit understand the non-perceptual feelings	Understands Krishna through devotional service simple chanting hare krishna guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord
4	Long practice makes it difficult to take up bhakti	Completely natural
5	Troublesome no relationship with the lord	Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
6	Depends on our own endeavor	Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why? because krishna himself recommends the process out of paternal love by his causeless mercy
IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan)
	Brahman	Bhagavan
1	Nirguna (without qualities)	Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.)
2	Inconcievable	Possess inconceivable potencies
3	All pervading	All pervading by energy and as supersoul
4	Unchanging, fixed and immovable	Unchanging, fixed and immovable
5	Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack of activity	Possessor of six opulence’s in full
6	Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end	Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost
7	May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial realization)	Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes brahman and paramatma realisation)

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.6 & 12.7: The ease of attaining the desired goal by practicing true bhakti is next described.

COMMON THEME: Devotional service is simple and easy because Krishna personally delivers His devotees.

Learnings from Purport 12.6 – 12.7

(a) Only way to appreciate Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(b) Fortunate position of devotee– delivered by the Lord very soon

(c) Realization in pure devotional service

God is great
Individual soul is subordinate to Him – duty is to render service to the Lord
If not serve the Lord – you will render service to Maya

(d) Principles

Mind – Completely fixed in devotion to Supreme Personality of Godhead
Standard of devotional service – One can do any work but work only for Krishna
Desire – Life’s only mission and desire is satisfaction of the Lord
e.g. Arjuna in battle – Can sacrifice all for Krishna’s satisfaction

(e) Process is simple – Just devote to your occupation and chant Hare Krishna – Thus attracts Supreme Personality of Godhead

(f) Promise – Without delay, Lord will deliver the devotee from material ocean (Yogis have to personally endeavor to go to other planets)

Ref. Varaha Purana – Devotee’s do not need Astanga-yoga
Lord takes responsibility like – Analogy: Child taken care by parents
Comes on Garuda to pick from the ocean – Analogy: Expert swimmer also needs help to be picked up from the ocean

(g) Sign of intelligence – To always prefer devotional service compared to other paths

(h) Specific benediction of devotional service – Ref. Narayaniya –

No need to perform fruitive acts or mental speculation
Attains all benefits of yogic processes, rituals, sacrifices, just by devotional service

(i) Conclusion of Bhagavad-gita: Simply Chant Hare Krishna and go to the Supreme destination easily and happily (Ref. Bg. 18.66 – “sarva dharman…”)

Highest Perfection of Life – Take shelter of the Supreme Omnipotent Godhead, Krishna

(d) For an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’

(h) Best solution – For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way

COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS
SNo	IMPERSONALIST	PERSONALIST
IN TERMS OF PRACTICE
1	Meditate on formless difficult for embodied	Meditate on form of deity easy for embodied
2	Unimanifested is beyond the senses restricts the senses	Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of mantra engages the senses
3	Must understand the brahman through Upanisads etc. learn the language sanskrit understand the non-perceptual feelings	Understands Krishna through devotional service simple chanting hare krishna guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord
4	Long practice makes it difficult to take up bhakti	Completely natural
5	Troublesome no relationship with the lord	Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
6	Depends on our own endeavor	Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why? because krishna himself recommends the process out of paternal love by his causeless mercy
IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan)
	Brahman	Bhagavan
1	Nirguna (without qualities)	Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.)
2	Inconcievable	Possess inconceivable potencies
3	All pervading	All pervading by energy and as supersoul
4	Unchanging, fixed and immovable	Unchanging, fixed and immovable
5	Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack of activity	Possessor of six opulence’s in full
6	Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end	Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost
7	May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial realization)	Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes brahman and paramatma realisation)

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.6 & 12.7: The ease of attaining the desired goal by practicing true bhakti is next described.

COMMON THEME: Devotional service is simple and easy because Krishna personally delivers His devotees.

Learnings from Purport 12.6 – 12.7

(a) Only way to appreciate Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(b) Fortunate position of devotee– delivered by the Lord very soon

(c) Realization in pure devotional service

God is great
Individual soul is subordinate to Him – duty is to render service to the Lord
If not serve the Lord – you will render service to Maya

(d) Principles

Mind – Completely fixed in devotion to Supreme Personality of Godhead
Standard of devotional service – One can do any work but work only for Krishna
Desire – Life’s only mission and desire is satisfaction of the Lord
e.g. Arjuna in battle – Can sacrifice all for Krishna’s satisfaction

(e) Process is simple – Just devote to your occupation and chant Hare Krishna – Thus attracts Supreme Personality of Godhead

(f) Promise – Without delay, Lord will deliver the devotee from material ocean (Yogis have to personally endeavor to go to other planets)

Ref. Varaha Purana – Devotee’s do not need Astanga-yoga
Lord takes responsibility like – Analogy: Child taken care by parents
Comes on Garuda to pick from the ocean – Analogy: Expert swimmer also needs help to be picked up from the ocean

(g) Sign of intelligence – To always prefer devotional service compared to other paths

(h) Specific benediction of devotional service – Ref. Narayaniya –

No need to perform fruitive acts or mental speculation
Attains all benefits of yogic processes, rituals, sacrifices, just by devotional service

(i) Conclusion of Bhagavad-gita: Simply Chant Hare Krishna and go to the Supreme destination easily and happily (Ref. Bg. 18.66 – “sarva dharman…”)

Highest Perfection of Life – Take shelter of the Supreme Omnipotent Godhead, Krishna

(a) Krishna conscious activities are not material – Because everything is done for Krishna

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.2 AND 12.3: Arjuna is happy to hear that devotional service is superior, but he wonders, “What is the attainment of an impersonalist, who, renouncing work, is able to ‘fully worship the unmanifested’?”

THEME: Those who worship unmanifested will also reach Krishna eventually and surrender (Ref. Bg. 7.19 – Väsudeva realization after many births)

Characteristics of impersonal conception of Absolute Truth
1. Unmanifested
2. Beyond sense perception
3. All-pervading
4. Inconceivable
5. Unchanging
6. Fixed
7. Immovable

How to worship the Unmanifested
1. By controlling various senses
2. By being equally disposed to everyone
3. By engaging in welfare for all
4. Difficult for any common man, much penance involved before the ultimate realization of full surrender takes place

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.4 AND 12.5: Having replied that personal realization is superior, Krishna now informs Arjuna of the inferiority of the impersonalist’s process of realization.

THEME: But the path of Impersonalists is troublesome and very difficult.

Learnings from Purport 12.5

(a) Two groups of transcendentalists discussed

Jnana-yogis – Those who follow the path of inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord
Bhakti-yogis – Those persons who are in full Krishna consciousness and engage in devotional service of the Lord

(b) Bhakti-yoga vs. Jnana-yoga

Same goal – Both ultimately bring one to the same goal
Process of Jnana-yoga is very troublesome – It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not this body
Process of Bhakti-yoga is direct – It is a process of being in direct service with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
o The Bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krishna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied

(c) Deity worship is not idol worship

Ref. Vedic literatures – Worship may be ‘saguna’ or ‘nirguna’ of the Supreme ‘possessing’ or ‘not possessing’ attributes
Worship of the Deity in the temple is ‘saguna’ worship – because the Lord is represented by material qualities
Absolute nature of the Lord – The form of the Lord although represented by material qualities like stone, wood, etc. is not actually material
Analogy: Deity Worship compared to a mailbox
o The Deity is the authorized representation of God, known as ‘arca-vigraha’
o The Deity is a incarnation of Supreme Lord to accept service from the living entities
The Lord is omnipotent, all powerful – Therefore He can accept the services of the devotee in His ‘arca-vigraha’ form, just to make it convenient for the man in conditional life

(d) For an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’

(e) Difficulties in the ‘practice’ for the Impersonalists

They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme
Process is difficult: e.g. Studying Vedic literatures like Upanisads, learning the language, understanding the non-perceptual feelings

(f) In contrast, Krishna consciousness provides simple ‘practice’

Simply chanting Hare Krishna
Guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the Deity, hearing the glories of the Lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord

(g) Difficulties in terms of ‘realizations’ –

Impersonalists – They take the risk of practicing difficult path and still do not realize the Absolute Truth in the ultimate end
o Partial realisation – They can achieve only ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ realizations
o Difficult to give up the idea – A jnani-yogi may come to the point of Bhakti-yoga by the grace of some devotee, but still long practice in impersonalism becomes a source of trouble, because he cannot give up this idea
o Against one’s real nature – Every living soul is partially independent and therefore this unmanifested realisation is against the nature of his spiritual blissful self
Personalists – They have no risks, trouble or difficulty in approaching the Supreme Lord directly
o Complete realisation – They realize ‘sat’, ‘cit’ and ‘ananda’ which implies even the blissful portion of the Absolute Truth is realized
o Ref. SB – If surrender or Bhakti is the ultimate goal, then why to take the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spend one’s whole life in that way, when the result is anyway going to be troublesome

(h) Best solution – For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way

WARNING! – If one wants to ignore this devotional service, there is the danger of turning to ‘Atheism’

COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS
SNo	IMPERSONALIST	PERSONALIST
IN TERMS OF PRACTICE
1	Meditate on formless difficult for embodied	Meditate on form of deity easy for embodied
2	Unimanifested is beyond the senses restricts the senses	Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of mantra engages the senses
3	Must understand the brahman through Upanisads etc. learn the language sanskrit understand the non-perceptual feelings	Understands Krishna through devotional service simple chanting hare krishna guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord
4	Long practice makes it difficult to take up bhakti	Completely natural
5	Troublesome no relationship with the lord	Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
6	Depends on our own endeavor	Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why? because krishna himself recommends the process out of paternal love by his causeless mercy
IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan)
	Brahman	Bhagavan
1	Nirguna (without qualities)	Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.)
2	Inconcievable	Possess inconceivable potencies
3	All pervading	All pervading by energy and as supersoul
4	Unchanging, fixed and immovable	Unchanging, fixed and immovable
5	Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack of activity	Possessor of six opulence’s in full
6	Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end	Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost
7	May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial realization)	Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes brahman and paramatma realisation)

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.6 & 12.7: The ease of attaining the desired goal by practicing true bhakti is next described.

COMMON THEME: Devotional service is simple and easy because Krishna personally delivers His devotees.

Learnings from Purport 12.6 – 12.7

(a) Only way to appreciate Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(b) Fortunate position of devotee– delivered by the Lord very soon

(c) Realization in pure devotional service

God is great
Individual soul is subordinate to Him – duty is to render service to the Lord
If not serve the Lord – you will render service to Maya

(d) Principles

Mind – Completely fixed in devotion to Supreme Personality of Godhead
Standard of devotional service – One can do any work but work only for Krishna
Desire – Life’s only mission and desire is satisfaction of the Lord
e.g. Arjuna in battle – Can sacrifice all for Krishna’s satisfaction

(e) Process is simple – Just devote to your occupation and chant Hare Krishna – Thus attracts Supreme Personality of Godhead

(f) Promise – Without delay, Lord will deliver the devotee from material ocean (Yogis have to personally endeavor to go to other planets)

Ref. Varaha Purana – Devotee’s do not need Astanga-yoga
Lord takes responsibility like – Analogy: Child taken care by parents
Comes on Garuda to pick from the ocean – Analogy: Expert swimmer also needs help to be picked up from the ocean

(g) Sign of intelligence – To always prefer devotional service compared to other paths

(h) Specific benediction of devotional service – Ref. Narayaniya –

No need to perform fruitive acts or mental speculation
Attains all benefits of yogic processes, rituals, sacrifices, just by devotional service

(i) Conclusion of Bhagavad-gita: Simply Chant Hare Krishna and go to the Supreme destination easily and happily (Ref. Bg. 18.66 – “sarva dharman…”)

Highest Perfection of Life – Take shelter of the Supreme Omnipotent Godhead, Krishna

(a) Krishna conscious activities are not material – Because everything is done for Krishna

THEME: Those who worship unmanifested will also reach Krishna eventually and surrender (Ref. Bg. 7.19 – Väsudeva realization after many births)

Characteristics of impersonal conception of Absolute Truth
1. Unmanifested
2. Beyond sense perception
3. All-pervading
4. Inconceivable
5. Unchanging
6. Fixed
7. Immovable

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.4 AND 12.5: Having replied that personal realization is superior, Krishna now informs Arjuna of the inferiority of the impersonalist’s process of realization.

THEME: But the path of Impersonalists is troublesome and very difficult.

Learnings from Purport 12.5

(a) Two groups of transcendentalists discussed

Jnana-yogis – Those who follow the path of inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord
Bhakti-yogis – Those persons who are in full Krishna consciousness and engage in devotional service of the Lord

(b) Bhakti-yoga vs. Jnana-yoga

Same goal – Both ultimately bring one to the same goal
Process of Jnana-yoga is very troublesome – It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not this body
Process of Bhakti-yoga is direct – It is a process of being in direct service with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
o The Bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krishna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied

(c) Deity worship is not idol worship

Ref. Vedic literatures – Worship may be ‘saguna’ or ‘nirguna’ of the Supreme ‘possessing’ or ‘not possessing’ attributes
Worship of the Deity in the temple is ‘saguna’ worship – because the Lord is represented by material qualities
Absolute nature of the Lord – The form of the Lord although represented by material qualities like stone, wood, etc. is not actually material
Analogy: Deity Worship compared to a mailbox
o The Deity is the authorized representation of God, known as ‘arca-vigraha’
o The Deity is a incarnation of Supreme Lord to accept service from the living entities
The Lord is omnipotent, all powerful – Therefore He can accept the services of the devotee in His ‘arca-vigraha’ form, just to make it convenient for the man in conditional life

(d) For an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’

(e) Difficulties in the ‘practice’ for the Impersonalists

They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme
Process is difficult: e.g. Studying Vedic literatures like Upanisads, learning the language, understanding the non-perceptual feelings

(f) In contrast, Krishna consciousness provides simple ‘practice’

Simply chanting Hare Krishna
Guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the Deity, hearing the glories of the Lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord

(g) Difficulties in terms of ‘realizations’ –

Impersonalists – They take the risk of practicing difficult path and still do not realize the Absolute Truth in the ultimate end
o Partial realisation – They can achieve only ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ realizations
o Difficult to give up the idea – A jnani-yogi may come to the point of Bhakti-yoga by the grace of some devotee, but still long practice in impersonalism becomes a source of trouble, because he cannot give up this idea
o Against one’s real nature – Every living soul is partially independent and therefore this unmanifested realisation is against the nature of his spiritual blissful self
Personalists – They have no risks, trouble or difficulty in approaching the Supreme Lord directly
o Complete realisation – They realize ‘sat’, ‘cit’ and ‘ananda’ which implies even the blissful portion of the Absolute Truth is realized
o Ref. SB – If surrender or Bhakti is the ultimate goal, then why to take the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spend one’s whole life in that way, when the result is anyway going to be troublesome

(h) Best solution – For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way

WARNING! – If one wants to ignore this devotional service, there is the danger of turning to ‘Atheism’

COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS
SNo	IMPERSONALIST	PERSONALIST
IN TERMS OF PRACTICE
1	Meditate on formless difficult for embodied	Meditate on form of deity easy for embodied
2	Unimanifested is beyond the senses restricts the senses	Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of mantra engages the senses
3	Must understand the brahman through Upanisads etc. learn the language sanskrit understand the non-perceptual feelings	Understands Krishna through devotional service simple chanting hare krishna guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord
4	Long practice makes it difficult to take up bhakti	Completely natural
5	Troublesome no relationship with the lord	Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
6	Depends on our own endeavor	Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why? because krishna himself recommends the process out of paternal love by his causeless mercy
IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan)
	Brahman	Bhagavan
1	Nirguna (without qualities)	Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.)
2	Inconcievable	Possess inconceivable potencies
3	All pervading	All pervading by energy and as supersoul
4	Unchanging, fixed and immovable	Unchanging, fixed and immovable
5	Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack of activity	Possessor of six opulence’s in full
6	Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end	Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost
7	May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial realization)	Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes brahman and paramatma realisation)

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.6 & 12.7: The ease of attaining the desired goal by practicing true bhakti is next described.

COMMON THEME: Devotional service is simple and easy because Krishna personally delivers His devotees.

Learnings from Purport 12.6 – 12.7

(a) Only way to appreciate Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(b) Fortunate position of devotee– delivered by the Lord very soon

(c) Realization in pure devotional service

God is great
Individual soul is subordinate to Him – duty is to render service to the Lord
If not serve the Lord – you will render service to Maya

(d) Principles

Mind – Completely fixed in devotion to Supreme Personality of Godhead
Standard of devotional service – One can do any work but work only for Krishna
Desire – Life’s only mission and desire is satisfaction of the Lord
e.g. Arjuna in battle – Can sacrifice all for Krishna’s satisfaction

(e) Process is simple – Just devote to your occupation and chant Hare Krishna – Thus attracts Supreme Personality of Godhead

(f) Promise – Without delay, Lord will deliver the devotee from material ocean (Yogis have to personally endeavor to go to other planets)

Ref. Varaha Purana – Devotee’s do not need Astanga-yoga
Lord takes responsibility like – Analogy: Child taken care by parents
Comes on Garuda to pick from the ocean – Analogy: Expert swimmer also needs help to be picked up from the ocean

(g) Sign of intelligence – To always prefer devotional service compared to other paths

(h) Specific benediction of devotional service – Ref. Narayaniya –

No need to perform fruitive acts or mental speculation
Attains all benefits of yogic processes, rituals, sacrifices, just by devotional service

(i) Conclusion of Bhagavad-gita: Simply Chant Hare Krishna and go to the Supreme destination easily and happily (Ref. Bg. 18.66 – “sarva dharman…”)

Highest Perfection of Life – Take shelter of the Supreme Omnipotent Godhead, Krishna

(b) Only way to have association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(c) Conclusion of every chapter of Bhagavad-gita – one should ‘attach to personal form’ e.g.

THEME : Krishna answers – Those engaged in devotional service are most perfect because, they:

Fix their minds on ‘My’ personal form
Always engaged in worshipping ‘Me’
Worship ‘Me’ with great and transcendental faith

Learnings from Purport 12.2

(a) Krishna conscious activities are not material – Because everything is done for Krishna

(b) A pure devotee is in ‘full samadhi’ –

Because of his constant engagement e.g. Chant, hears, cooks, shopping for Krishna, washes temple or dishes etc.
Does not pass a single moment without devoting his activities to Krishna

THEME: Those who worship unmanifested will also reach Krishna eventually and surrender (Ref. Bg. 7.19 – Väsudeva realization after many births)

Characteristics of impersonal conception of Absolute Truth
1. Unmanifested
2. Beyond sense perception
3. All-pervading
4. Inconceivable
5. Unchanging
6. Fixed
7. Immovable

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.4 AND 12.5: Having replied that personal realization is superior, Krishna now informs Arjuna of the inferiority of the impersonalist’s process of realization.

THEME: But the path of Impersonalists is troublesome and very difficult.

Learnings from Purport 12.5

(a) Two groups of transcendentalists discussed

Jnana-yogis – Those who follow the path of inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord
Bhakti-yogis – Those persons who are in full Krishna consciousness and engage in devotional service of the Lord

(b) Bhakti-yoga vs. Jnana-yoga

Same goal – Both ultimately bring one to the same goal
Process of Jnana-yoga is very troublesome – It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not this body
Process of Bhakti-yoga is direct – It is a process of being in direct service with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
o The Bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krishna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied

(c) Deity worship is not idol worship

Ref. Vedic literatures – Worship may be ‘saguna’ or ‘nirguna’ of the Supreme ‘possessing’ or ‘not possessing’ attributes
Worship of the Deity in the temple is ‘saguna’ worship – because the Lord is represented by material qualities
Absolute nature of the Lord – The form of the Lord although represented by material qualities like stone, wood, etc. is not actually material
Analogy: Deity Worship compared to a mailbox
o The Deity is the authorized representation of God, known as ‘arca-vigraha’
o The Deity is a incarnation of Supreme Lord to accept service from the living entities
The Lord is omnipotent, all powerful – Therefore He can accept the services of the devotee in His ‘arca-vigraha’ form, just to make it convenient for the man in conditional life

(d) For an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’

(e) Difficulties in the ‘practice’ for the Impersonalists

They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme
Process is difficult: e.g. Studying Vedic literatures like Upanisads, learning the language, understanding the non-perceptual feelings

(f) In contrast, Krishna consciousness provides simple ‘practice’

Simply chanting Hare Krishna
Guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the Deity, hearing the glories of the Lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord

(g) Difficulties in terms of ‘realizations’ –

Impersonalists – They take the risk of practicing difficult path and still do not realize the Absolute Truth in the ultimate end
o Partial realisation – They can achieve only ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ realizations
o Difficult to give up the idea – A jnani-yogi may come to the point of Bhakti-yoga by the grace of some devotee, but still long practice in impersonalism becomes a source of trouble, because he cannot give up this idea
o Against one’s real nature – Every living soul is partially independent and therefore this unmanifested realisation is against the nature of his spiritual blissful self
Personalists – They have no risks, trouble or difficulty in approaching the Supreme Lord directly
o Complete realisation – They realize ‘sat’, ‘cit’ and ‘ananda’ which implies even the blissful portion of the Absolute Truth is realized
o Ref. SB – If surrender or Bhakti is the ultimate goal, then why to take the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spend one’s whole life in that way, when the result is anyway going to be troublesome

(h) Best solution – For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way

WARNING! – If one wants to ignore this devotional service, there is the danger of turning to ‘Atheism’

COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS
SNo	IMPERSONALIST	PERSONALIST
IN TERMS OF PRACTICE
1	Meditate on formless difficult for embodied	Meditate on form of deity easy for embodied
2	Unimanifested is beyond the senses restricts the senses	Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of mantra engages the senses
3	Must understand the brahman through Upanisads etc. learn the language sanskrit understand the non-perceptual feelings	Understands Krishna through devotional service simple chanting hare krishna guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord
4	Long practice makes it difficult to take up bhakti	Completely natural
5	Troublesome no relationship with the lord	Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
6	Depends on our own endeavor	Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why? because krishna himself recommends the process out of paternal love by his causeless mercy
IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan)
	Brahman	Bhagavan
1	Nirguna (without qualities)	Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.)
2	Inconcievable	Possess inconceivable potencies
3	All pervading	All pervading by energy and as supersoul
4	Unchanging, fixed and immovable	Unchanging, fixed and immovable
5	Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack of activity	Possessor of six opulence’s in full
6	Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end	Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost
7	May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial realization)	Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes brahman and paramatma realisation)

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.6 & 12.7: The ease of attaining the desired goal by practicing true bhakti is next described.

COMMON THEME: Devotional service is simple and easy because Krishna personally delivers His devotees.

Learnings from Purport 12.6 – 12.7

(a) Only way to appreciate Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(b) Fortunate position of devotee– delivered by the Lord very soon

(c) Realization in pure devotional service

God is great
Individual soul is subordinate to Him – duty is to render service to the Lord
If not serve the Lord – you will render service to Maya

(d) Principles

Mind – Completely fixed in devotion to Supreme Personality of Godhead
Standard of devotional service – One can do any work but work only for Krishna
Desire – Life’s only mission and desire is satisfaction of the Lord
e.g. Arjuna in battle – Can sacrifice all for Krishna’s satisfaction

(e) Process is simple – Just devote to your occupation and chant Hare Krishna – Thus attracts Supreme Personality of Godhead

(f) Promise – Without delay, Lord will deliver the devotee from material ocean (Yogis have to personally endeavor to go to other planets)

Ref. Varaha Purana – Devotee’s do not need Astanga-yoga
Lord takes responsibility like – Analogy: Child taken care by parents
Comes on Garuda to pick from the ocean – Analogy: Expert swimmer also needs help to be picked up from the ocean

(g) Sign of intelligence – To always prefer devotional service compared to other paths

(h) Specific benediction of devotional service – Ref. Narayaniya –

No need to perform fruitive acts or mental speculation
Attains all benefits of yogic processes, rituals, sacrifices, just by devotional service

(i) Conclusion of Bhagavad-gita: Simply Chant Hare Krishna and go to the Supreme destination easily and happily (Ref. Bg. 18.66 – “sarva dharman…”)

Highest Perfection of Life – Take shelter of the Supreme Omnipotent Godhead, Krishna

(b) Only way to have association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(c) Conclusion of every chapter of Bhagavad-gita – one should ‘attach to personal form’ e.g.

THEME : Krishna answers – Those engaged in devotional service are most perfect because, they:

Fix their minds on ‘My’ personal form
Always engaged in worshipping ‘Me’
Worship ‘Me’ with great and transcendental faith

Learnings from Purport 12.2

(a) Krishna conscious activities are not material – Because everything is done for Krishna

(b) A pure devotee is in ‘full samadhi’ –

Because of his constant engagement e.g. Chant, hears, cooks, shopping for Krishna, washes temple or dishes etc.
Does not pass a single moment without devoting his activities to Krishna

THEME: Those who worship unmanifested will also reach Krishna eventually and surrender (Ref. Bg. 7.19 – Väsudeva realization after many births)

Characteristics of impersonal conception of Absolute Truth
1. Unmanifested
2. Beyond sense perception
3. All-pervading
4. Inconceivable
5. Unchanging
6. Fixed
7. Immovable

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.4 AND 12.5: Having replied that personal realization is superior, Krishna now informs Arjuna of the inferiority of the impersonalist’s process of realization.

THEME: But the path of Impersonalists is troublesome and very difficult.

Learnings from Purport 12.5

(a) Two groups of transcendentalists discussed

Jnana-yogis – Those who follow the path of inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord
Bhakti-yogis – Those persons who are in full Krishna consciousness and engage in devotional service of the Lord

(b) Bhakti-yoga vs. Jnana-yoga

Same goal – Both ultimately bring one to the same goal
Process of Jnana-yoga is very troublesome – It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not this body
Process of Bhakti-yoga is direct – It is a process of being in direct service with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
o The Bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krishna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied

(c) Deity worship is not idol worship

Ref. Vedic literatures – Worship may be ‘saguna’ or ‘nirguna’ of the Supreme ‘possessing’ or ‘not possessing’ attributes
Worship of the Deity in the temple is ‘saguna’ worship – because the Lord is represented by material qualities
Absolute nature of the Lord – The form of the Lord although represented by material qualities like stone, wood, etc. is not actually material
Analogy: Deity Worship compared to a mailbox
o The Deity is the authorized representation of God, known as ‘arca-vigraha’
o The Deity is a incarnation of Supreme Lord to accept service from the living entities
The Lord is omnipotent, all powerful – Therefore He can accept the services of the devotee in His ‘arca-vigraha’ form, just to make it convenient for the man in conditional life

(d) For an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’

(e) Difficulties in the ‘practice’ for the Impersonalists

They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme
Process is difficult: e.g. Studying Vedic literatures like Upanisads, learning the language, understanding the non-perceptual feelings

(f) In contrast, Krishna consciousness provides simple ‘practice’

Simply chanting Hare Krishna
Guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the Deity, hearing the glories of the Lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord

(g) Difficulties in terms of ‘realizations’ –

Impersonalists – They take the risk of practicing difficult path and still do not realize the Absolute Truth in the ultimate end
o Partial realisation – They can achieve only ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ realizations
o Difficult to give up the idea – A jnani-yogi may come to the point of Bhakti-yoga by the grace of some devotee, but still long practice in impersonalism becomes a source of trouble, because he cannot give up this idea
o Against one’s real nature – Every living soul is partially independent and therefore this unmanifested realisation is against the nature of his spiritual blissful self
Personalists – They have no risks, trouble or difficulty in approaching the Supreme Lord directly
o Complete realisation – They realize ‘sat’, ‘cit’ and ‘ananda’ which implies even the blissful portion of the Absolute Truth is realized
o Ref. SB – If surrender or Bhakti is the ultimate goal, then why to take the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spend one’s whole life in that way, when the result is anyway going to be troublesome

(h) Best solution – For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way

WARNING! – If one wants to ignore this devotional service, there is the danger of turning to ‘Atheism’

COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS
SNo	IMPERSONALIST	PERSONALIST
IN TERMS OF PRACTICE
1	Meditate on formless difficult for embodied	Meditate on form of deity easy for embodied
2	Unimanifested is beyond the senses restricts the senses	Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of mantra engages the senses
3	Must understand the brahman through Upanisads etc. learn the language sanskrit understand the non-perceptual feelings	Understands Krishna through devotional service simple chanting hare krishna guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord
4	Long practice makes it difficult to take up bhakti	Completely natural
5	Troublesome no relationship with the lord	Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
6	Depends on our own endeavor	Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why? because krishna himself recommends the process out of paternal love by his causeless mercy
IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan)
	Brahman	Bhagavan
1	Nirguna (without qualities)	Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.)
2	Inconcievable	Possess inconceivable potencies
3	All pervading	All pervading by energy and as supersoul
4	Unchanging, fixed and immovable	Unchanging, fixed and immovable
5	Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack of activity	Possessor of six opulence’s in full
6	Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end	Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost
7	May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial realization)	Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes brahman and paramatma realisation)

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 12.6 & 12.7: The ease of attaining the desired goal by practicing true bhakti is next described.

COMMON THEME: Devotional service is simple and easy because Krishna personally delivers His devotees.

Learnings from Purport 12.6 – 12.7

(a) Only way to appreciate Supreme Personality of Godhead – Devotional Service

(b) Fortunate position of devotee– delivered by the Lord very soon

(c) Realization in pure devotional service

God is great
Individual soul is subordinate to Him – duty is to render service to the Lord
If not serve the Lord – you will render service to Maya

(d) Principles

Mind – Completely fixed in devotion to Supreme Personality of Godhead
Standard of devotional service – One can do any work but work only for Krishna
Desire – Life’s only mission and desire is satisfaction of the Lord
e.g. Arjuna in battle – Can sacrifice all for Krishna’s satisfaction

(e) Process is simple – Just devote to your occupation and chant Hare Krishna – Thus attracts Supreme Personality of Godhead

(f) Promise – Without delay, Lord will deliver the devotee from material ocean (Yogis have to personally endeavor to go to other planets)

Ref. Varaha Purana – Devotee’s do not need Astanga-yoga
Lord takes responsibility like – Analogy: Child taken care by parents
Comes on Garuda to pick from the ocean – Analogy: Expert swimmer also needs help to be picked up from the ocean

(g) Sign of intelligence – To always prefer devotional service compared to other paths

(h) Specific benediction of devotional service – Ref. Narayaniya –

No need to perform fruitive acts or mental speculation
Attains all benefits of yogic processes, rituals, sacrifices, just by devotional service

(i) Conclusion of Bhagavad-gita: Simply Chant Hare Krishna and go to the Supreme destination easily and happily (Ref. Bg. 18.66 – “sarva dharman…”)

Highest Perfection of Life – Take shelter of the Supreme Omnipotent Godhead, Krishna