During the last few days, I have given an overview of the Esoteric Teaching. The path of the Esoteric Teaching is divided into three phases or levels of realization: Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. These correspond to the three dimensions of the spiritual world: sat, or eternal existence; cit, full knowledge or full consciousness; and ananda, or unlimited spiritual pleasure.
Brahman is the impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth; it is a spiritual effulgence similar to the sunshine. Paramatma is the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within the heart of every living entity, and is compared to the sun disc. And Bhagavan is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is compared to the sun-god.And these three levels are there in the structure of the Esoteric Teaching as the Exoteric Circle, the Mesoteric Circle and the Esoteric Circle. The Associates of the Exoteric Circle are trying to realize the Brahman aspect of the Absolute Truth. The Initiates of the Mesoteric Circle realize the Paramatma aspect. And the Masters of the Esoteric Circle are those who have realized Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Kṛṣṇa says:
manusyanam sahasresu
kascid yatati siddhaye
yatatam api siddhanam
kascin mam vetti tattvatah“Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.3]
Out of many thousands of people who are interested in spiritual life, only a few may take to the path of the Esoteric Teaching. Out of thousands of students of the Esoteric Teaching who realize Brahman, only a few may go on to become Initiates and attain Paramatma realization. And out of thousands of Initiates who have realized Paramatma, only a few go on to realize Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So a fully-realized Master Teacher of the Esoteric Teaching is rare, even among the siddhas, or those who have attained spiritual perfection. Why? Because the siddhas may have realized the Brahman or Paramatma aspects of the Absolute Truth; but very, very few, even among the siddhas, realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Therefore the Esoteric Teaching is the highest and rarest of all spiritual paths, because it sets its sights on Bhagavan realization, realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from the very beginning of the path.
In the Esoteric Teaching, the beginning of the path is Bhagavad-gita, and since Bhagavad-gita is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, it gives a very nice summary of the entire path. Just like when we are going on a long journey, we first consult a map. The map shows us the route, what the terrain is like, which way we have to turn, and so on. Similarly Bhagavad-gita gives us a preview of the whole path, and since it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, it is very authoritative.
But Bhagavad-gita is just the beginning. Bhagavad-gita reveals the mystery of the spiritual path, but does not explain in detail. It is a very good map, but the map is not the journey itself: it is just a preview. The details of the path are explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam, or the Bhagavat-Purana, is Vyasadeva’s commentary on his own Vedanta-sutra.
Vedanta-sutra is the conclusion and summary of the whole Vedic literature, but Vedanta-sutra is impossible for an ordinary human being to understand. Therefore Vyasadeva wrote Srimad-Bhagavatam and taught it to his son, Sukadeva Gosvami. Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-gita to encourage and enlighten Arjuna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. Similarly, Sukadeva Gosvami spoke Srimad-Bhagavatam to encourage and enlighten King Pariksit, the emperor of the Vedic empire, at the time of his death.
Pariksit Maharaja was fasting in a secluded place on the bank of the Ganges, surrounded by all the great sages, awaiting the time of his death, and Sukadeva came there to help him. Later on Srimad-Bhagavatam was spoken again by Suta Gosvami at the thousand-year sacrifice of the Absolute Truth that inaugurated the Brotherhood of the Esoteric Teaching, and this is the version of Srimad-Bhagavatam that we study to this day.
Bhagavad-gita is about 500 Sanskrit verses, or slokas; but the Srimad-Bhagavatam is over 18,000 slokas. So if Bhagavad-gita is a dictionary of Vedic spirituality, Srimad-Bhagavatam is a veritable encyclopedia. It narrates the stories of all the great devotees who attained complete realization, and it also gives the pastimes of all the important incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this universe since time immemorial.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the heart of the Esoteric Teaching. Actually, the term ‘Esoteric Teaching’ is practically synonymous with Srimad-Bhagavatam. And the ‘Brotherhood of the Esoteric Teaching’ is the disciplic lineage of those who study Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Of course, just like anyone can read Bhagavad-gita, anyone can read Srimad-Bhagavatam. You can even find it on the Internet. But if you try to read Srimad-Bhagavatam without first studying Bhagavad-gita, and without living the life of a sadhu, a spiritual student, you cannot understand it. You will misunderstand it and waste your time. Why? Because you will not have the correct ontology. Without understanding Bhagavad-gita and without being a bona fide sadhu, you will miss the essence of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
The essence of Srimad-Bhagavatam is service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If you try to study Srimad-Bhagavatam without being engaged in service, bhakti-yoga, you will certainly misunderstand and misinterpret it. It will be academic study only; you will not be able to realize it. It requires a commitment, and it requires correct understanding of the path.
Therefore we recommend first of all that you study Bhagavad-gita deeply. And not just any edition of Bhagavad-gita, but Bhagavad-gita As It Is, by our spiritual master His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in the original 1972 Macmillan edition. The later editions contain spurious editorial changed not approved by the original author.
You can read Bhagavad-gita As It Is online, and you can also purchase a copy at asitis.com. This Bhagavad-gita As It Is is the beginning of the path of the Esoteric Teaching, and we recommend it to all our students and friends to give them a solid foundation in the fundamentals of authentic Vedic spiritual realization.
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