Adi-lila, Chapter 7 139

TEXT 146

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sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana nama
ei tina artha sarva-sutre paryavasana

SYNONYMS

sambandha—relationship; abhidheya—functional duties; prayojana—the goal of
life; nama—name; ei—there; tina—three; artha—purport; sarva—all; sutre—in the
codes of Vedanta; paryavasana—culmination.

TRANSLATION

“One’s relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, activities in terms
of that relationship, and the ultimate goal of life [to develop love of God]—these
three subjects are explained in every code of the Vedanta-sutra, for they form the
culmination of the entire Vedanta philosophy.”

PURPORT

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam(5.5.5) it is said:

parabhavas tavad abodha-jato

A human being is defeated in al! his activities as long as he does not know the goal
of life, which can be understood when one is inquisitive about Brahman. It is such
inquiry that begins Vedanta-sutra: athato brahma-jijnasa. A human being should be
inquisitive to know who he is, what the universe is, what God is and what the
relationship is between himself, God and the material world. Such questions cannot
be asked by cats and dogs, but they must arise in the heart of a real human being.
Knowledge of these four items—namely, oneself, the universe, God, and their
internal relationship—is called sambandha-jhana, or the knowledge of one’s relation-
ship. When one’s relationship with the Supreme Lord is established, the next pro-
gram is to actin that relationship. This is called abhidheya, or activity in relationship
with the Lord. After executing such prescribed duties, when one attains the highest
goal of life, love of Godhead, he achieves prayojana-siddhi, or the fulfillment of his
human mission. In the Brahma-sutra, or Vedanta-sutra, these subjects are very care-
fully explained. Therefore one who does not understand the Vedanta-sutra in terms
of these principles is simply wasting his time. This is the version of Srimad-
Bhagavatam (1.2.8):
