Atma Requires Atma

Book, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

  • As long as we remain in this world, we should be satisfied with minimum material possessions. Atma requires atma for its sustenance, not anatma. Anatma is foreign to it. If one gets the property of one world, he will then have the desire to get another. The material world is actually devoid of real bliss. The material world is the shadow of the Supreme Lord, who is All-Existence, All-Knowledge and All-Bliss. The material world is the outcome of maya which means `not that', just as the shadow of a tree has got no actual existence.

    tasmad idam jagad asesam asat-svarupam
    svapnabham asta-dhisanam puru-duhkha- duhkham
    tvayy eva nitya-sukha- bodha-tanav anante
    mayata udyad api yat sad ivavabhati
    Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.22

    This entire universe is temporary, so it is dream-like (illusory), transitory (not permanent), devoid of knowledge, inert and extremely painful. But O Lord Krishna! You are All-Existence, All-Knowledge and All-Bliss and therefore Infinite. The entire universe is repeatedly created and destroyed by your inconceivable power, yet it appears to be truth eternally existing.

Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math © 2025
info@bbtirtha.org