KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARI VILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.1.7
- The topmost transcendentalist is a liberated soul and is therefore not within the purview of the regulative principles.
- The topmost transcendentalists realize Him by the advanced experience of transcendental knowledge, and therefore they take pleasure in the discussion of the transcendental qualities of the Lord’s pastimes.
- The highest perfection of transcendental realization is to take pleasure in hearing and describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord and not in merging into His impersonal Brahman existence,
- In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9), the Personality of Godhead declares that His appearance and activities are all divyam, or transcendental.
- The common man, who is under the spell of material energy, takes it for granted that the Lord is like one of us, and therefore he refuses to accept the transcendental nature of the Lord’s form, name, etc
- It is impossible for anyone to surmount the two-pronged attack of daivī māyā—that is, her covering potency (āvaraṇātmika-śakti) and her throwing potency (prakṣepātmikā-śakti)
- The more we try to conquer this divine energy, the more powerfully she defeats us by exciting us through the mode of passion and punishing us with the threefold miseries, culminating in all-devouring death.
- This struggle between the divine energy and the evil forces is eternal.
- Despite repeatedly tasting defeat at the hands of the divine energy, the evil forces cannot understand why “mankind cannot have any rest.”
- in the Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Personality of Godhead clearly explains this. At first He sternly warns the evil forces with these words, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā: “This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome” (BG 7.14); and then in the next line He tells them how to overcome this divine energy, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: “But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
- “The deluding energy is My potency, and thus it is not possible for the dependent living beings to supersede the strength of the material modes. But those who take shelter in Me [the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa] can cross over the gigantic ocean of material energy.”
- No one can establish peace and prosperity in the world by fruitive activities or by speculative philosophy or ideology. The only way is to surrender unto the Supreme Lord and thus become free from the illusion of the deluding energy.
- Those who are actually great souls (mahātmās) are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always engaged in the service of the Lord. They are under the care of daivī-prakṛti, daiva-māyā or yogamāyā.
- The Bhagavad-gītā states that devotees of the highest grade are under the care of daiva-māyā, or yogamāyā: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (Bg. 9.13)
SB 2.1.7 TRANSLATION
O King Parīkṣit, mainly the topmost transcendentalists, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.
CLASS NOTES:
THE TOPMOST TRANSCENDENTALIST IS A LIBERATED SOUL
The topmost transcendentalist is a liberated soul and is therefore not within the purview of the regulative principles. Nārāyaṇa, Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material creation, His form and attributes are not material. The topmost transcendentalists or the liberated souls realize Him by advanced experience of transcendental knowledge, and therefore they take pleasure in the discussion of the transcendental qualities of the Lord’s pastimes.
The topmost transcendentalist is not interested in anything material, and his taking interest in the matter of the Lord’s activities is definite proof that the Lord is not like one of us in the material world.
NEOPHYTE
A neophyte, who is intended to be promoted to the spiritual plane, is guided by the spiritual master under regulative principles. He may be compared to a patient who is treated by various restrictions under medical jurisdiction
HIGHEST PERFECTION OF TRANSCENDENTAL REALIZATION
The highest perfection of transcendental realization is to take pleasure in hearing and describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord and not in merging into His impersonal Brahman existence, for which the impersonalist monist aspires.
Real transcendental pleasure is realized in the glorification of the transcendental Lord, and not in the feeling of being situated in His impersonal feature
The common man, who is under the spell of material energy, takes it for granted that the Lord is like one of us,
In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9), the Personality of Godhead declares that His appearance and activities are all divyam, or transcendental. The common man, who is under the spell of material energy, takes it for granted that the Lord is like one of us, and therefore he refuses to accept the transcendental nature of the Lord’s form, name, etc
The devotee understands that everything concerned with Krsna is transcendental. What confuses people is the original Krsna, Shyam Sundar form seems to act like an ordinary human being and at times and at the very same time performs extraordinary acts.
He acts like a human being. He cries when Yasodamayi is chasing Him, He dies like an ordinary man, He faints when he sees his friends going into Agasura, But at the same time defeats the gigantic Agasura by expanding Himself.
The nonbelievers, pick and choose the ordinary human being like acts of Krsna to support their false premise. Karmis who are envious of Krsna, vacillate towards the premise that he is an ordinary human being. In fact we all are envious of Krsna and hence we are in this material world.
QUESTION ABOUT DAVI MAYA, DAVI HI ESA GUN MAYI
BG 7.14
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
daivī — transcendental; hi — certainly; eṣā — this; guṇa-mayī — consisting of the three modes of material nature;
“Although māyā [illusion] is false or temporary, the background of māyā is the supreme magician, the Personality of Godhead, who is Maheśvara, the supreme controller.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.10)
(RTW 2.1) IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO SURMOUNT THE TWO-PRONGED ATTACK OF DAIVĪ MĀYĀ—THAT IS, HER COVERING POTENCY AND HER THROWING POTENCY.
In the Gītā (7.14) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, “This divine energy of mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome.” The Sanskrit words daivī māyā used here can be translated into modern terms as “nature’s law.” This natural law is so stringent that it is impossible to overcome it, in spite of our prolific articles in the newspapers or our big conferences tabling motions that run into volumes.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO SURMOUNT THE TWO-PRONGED ATTACK OF DAIVĪ MĀYĀ—THAT IS, HER COVERING POTENCY AND HER THROWING POTENCY. The more we try to conquer this divine energy, the more powerfully she defeats us by exciting us through the mode of passion and punishing us with the threefold miseries, culminating in all-devouring death. This struggle between the divine energy and the evil forces is eternal. Our inability to understand this struggle has led us to lament, “In the dispensation of providence, mankind cannot have any rest.”
Despite repeatedly tasting defeat at the hands of the divine energy, the evil forces cannot understand why “mankind cannot have any rest.” Yet in the Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Personality of Godhead clearly explains this. At first He sternly warns the evil forces with these words, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā: “This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome” (BG 7.14); and then in the next line He tells them how to overcome this divine energy, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: “But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
Nature’s Law – three modes, controlling material nature, stopping birth, stopping death, people keep trying and they fail.
Surrender of Christians – Jesus Save me and they continue to sin. They think Jesus will protect them and take away all their sins. That is a false idea of surrender. Surrender is an ongoing thing. Constant devotional service. Serving the book Bhagavata and person Bhagavat. The surrendering process is a continuum.
(SB 1.11.34)THE ONLY WAY IS TO SURRENDER UNTO THE SUPREME LORD AND THUS BECOME FREE FROM THE ILLUSION OF THE DELUDING ENERGY.
In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14) this fact is very vividly described. It is said, “The deluding energy is My potency, and thus it is not possible for the dependent living beings to supersede the strength of the material modes. But those who take shelter in Me [the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa] can cross over the gigantic ocean of material energy.” This means that no one can establish peace and prosperity in the world by fruitive activities or by speculative philosophy or ideology. The only way is to surrender unto the Supreme Lord and thus become free from the illusion of the deluding energy.
(CC ADI 4.30) THOSE WHO ARE ACTUALLY GREAT SOULS (MAHĀTMĀS) ARE FULLY ABSORBED IN KṚṢṆA CONSCIOUSNESS, ALWAYS ENGAGED IN THE SERVICE OF THE LORD. THEY ARE UNDER THE CARE OF DAIVĪ-PRAKṚTI, OR YOGAMĀYĀ.
The Bhagavad-gītā states that devotees of the highest grade are under the care of daiva-māyā, or yogamāyā: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (Bg. 9.13). Those who are actually great souls (mahātmās) are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always engaged in the service of the Lord. They are under the care of daivī-prakṛti, or yogamāyā. Yogamāyā creates a situation in which the devotee is prepared to transgress all regulative principles simply to love Kṛṣṇa. A devotee naturally does not like to transgress the laws of reverence for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but by the influence of yogamāyā he is prepared to do anything to love the Supreme Lord better
When referring to Mahatmas – Daiva Maya, Daivi prakrti is protecting them (covering potency to participate in the past times of the Lord)
When referring to demons – guna mayi – Daivi prakriti – is putting them through stringent laws of nature which are difficult to overcome ( Covering potency to forget lord, & Throwing potency)
Krishna’s Deluding energy acts in two ways –
- one is to bring the mahatma devotees close to Krsna (Gopis cannot perform Rasa Lila with the lord if they are not covered with Daivi maya, similarly Yasodamayi cannot chastise Krsna if she is not covered by Daivi maya or yoga maya)
- in another way, it covers the knowledge of the lord and puts the living into ignorance and makes them bound by the stringent laws of nature (3 modes), and throws them away from the Lord.
Example – Cat holds the kitten in the mouth, Kitten is so comfortable in the mouth of the cat. The same Cat’s mouth is a death bed for the mouse.