bbtirtha - Audio

Meaning of 'Om Tad Vishnoh Paramam Padam'

Harikatha, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

'Divīva' means self-effulgent. As the example of the Sun I have given now, self-effulgent. If the Sun does not rise, you cannot see. When the Sun rises, you should have the desire to see. You have to open doors and windows, and catch the light of the Sun through the eyes and then you can see the Sun. Like that, we can see the lotus feet of Vishnu, eternally, when He will grace us and His self-effulgent form will descend to us and we will see Him.

Madan Gopal Prabhu: Could you explain the meaning of 'divīva cakṣur ātatam'?

Srila Gurudev: You see all the Vaishnava Acharyas they utter this Rig-veda mantra, 'om tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ divīva cakṣur ātatam'. Here, you will get the Vaishnava philosophy 'viṣṇu pād-padma'. 'Tat' means what is beyond gross and subtle sense organs; transcendental, beyond the comprehension of mind and sense organs, subtle and gross sense organs. The lotus feet of Vishnu are 'tat' and that 'tat' is 'sat'. 'Sat' means eternal. Your body is non-eternal. It will remain for some time. Afterwards it will die. These sense organs will vanish. Even during the lifetime of the body many people lose their senses. Many people lose their eyes, lose the capacity to hear. So when the body is finished, sense organs will be finished. So, by these non-eternal sense organs, whatever you see are only non-eternal things.

Now, the devotees are seeing the devoted, worshipers are seeing the worshiped, eternally. This means worshipers will be eternal and the worshiped lotus feet of Krishna are eternal. Then worship can be eternal. How they are worshiping, how they are seeing, 'divīva', 'divīva' means self–effulgent. If the Sun does not rise, you cannot see the Sun. When Sun rises, you should have the desire to see. You have to open doors and windows, and catch the light of the Sun through the eyes, then you can see the Sun. If you close your eyes, you close doors and windows, how can you see? But when Sun rises you can see through the light of the Sun as you find in this world. Like that, we can see the lotus feet of Vishnu, eternally, when He will grace us and His self-effulgent form will descend to us and we will see Him. Our body will be changed. By the material body and material sense organs, you cannot see. When the real self-will manifest, transcendental eyes will come. By the eyes of loving devotion, you can see. As our Bilva Mangal Thakur destroyed his worldly eyes and got transcendental eyes. By these (worldly) eyes, you cannot see.