Realizing One's Spiritual Body

Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhupada
(Above: Bengali painting, unknown artist)

Realizing one's form, qualities and activities in the spiritual world and realizing the form qualities and pastimes of Krishna is the acme of achievement. In the below excerpt from his Krama-sandarbha commentary to SB 7.5.18, Srila Goswamipad outlines the process to attain this. [Sanskrit below is in Harvard Kyoto style]:

prathamaM nAmnaH ZravaNam antaHkaraNa-Zuddhy-artham apekSyam. Zuddhe cAntaH-karaNe rUpa-ZravaNena tad-udaya-yogyatA bhavati. samyag-udite ca rUpe guNAnAM sphuraNaM sampadyate. sampanne ca guNAnAM sphuraNe parikara-vaiZiSTyena tad-vaiZiSTyaM sampadyate. tatas teSu nAma-rUpa-guNa-parikareSu samyak sphuriteSu lIlAnAM sphuraNaM suSThu bhavati.

“First it is expected that one should hear the Lord’s names in order to purify the heart. Once the mind and intelligence have been purified in this way, one can hear about Krishna’s form, through which one’s qualification to visualize it is obtained. When the form of the Lord has been clearly visualized, one can experience His qualities. Once these have been clearly understood, one develops one’s own individual spiritual characteristics through the particular characteristics of the Lord’s associates. Thus, once the name, form, qualities and associates of the Lord have been clearly realized, a clear realization of Krishna’s activities will follow.”

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