KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.6
- A living being’s constitutional position is to render service, but in the atmosphere of māyā, or illusion, or the conditional state of existence, the conditioned soul seeks the service of illusion.
- A conditioned soul works in the service of his temporary body, bodily relatives like the wife and children, and the necessary paraphernalia for maintaining the body and bodily relations, such as the house, land, wealth, society and country, but he does not know that all such renderings of service are totally illusory.
- If we want to end the cause of our conditioned life, we must take to the worship of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is present in everyone’s heart by His natural affection for all living beings, who are actually the parts and parcels of the Lord (Bg. 18.61).
- The Lord is always affectionate to us, and He always tries to get us back home, back to Godhead. Because we are all part and parcel of the Lord, the Lord is always affectionate to us, and He always tries to get us back home, back to Godhead. But we, the conditioned souls, do not care for Him and run instead of after the illusory bodily connections.
- We must therefore extricate ourselves from all illusory connections of the world and seek reunion with the Lord, trying to render service unto Him because He is the ultimate truth.
- Actually, we are hankering after Him as the child seeks the mother. And to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we need not go anywhere else, because the Lord is within our hearts
- Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one’s own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence
- A Godless Civilization artificially increases the conditions of life, and existence becomes intolerable for everyone.
- The foolish leaders of a godless civilization try to devise various plans to bring about peace and prosperity in the godless world under a patent trademark of materialism, and because such attempts are illusory only, the people elect incompetent, blind leaders, one after another, who are incapable of offering solutions.
- If we want at all to end this anomaly of a godless civilization, we must follow the principles of revealed scriptures like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the instruction of a person like Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī who has no attraction for material gain.
- In Bhāgavatam it is confirmed: āsurī nāma paścād dvāḥ. In other words, the population on the western side is interested in an asuric civilization, that is, a materialistic way of life.
- Lord Caitanya wanted this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to be preached on the western side of the world so that people addicted to sense gratification might be benefited by His teachings.
SB 2.2.6 TRANSLATION:
Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one’s own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence.
CLASS NOTES:
EVERY LIVING CREATURE IS ENGAGING IN THE SERVICE OF SOMETHING ELSE.
A living being’s constitutional position is to render service, but in the atmosphere of māyā, or illusion, or the conditional state of existence, the conditioned soul seeks the service of illusion. A conditioned soul works in the service of his temporary body, bodily relatives like the wife and children, and the necessary paraphernalia for maintaining the body and bodily relations, such as the house, land, wealth, society and country, but he does not know that all such renderings of service are totally illusory.
THIS MATERIAL WORLD IS ITSELF AN ILLUSION,
like a mirage in the desert. In the desert there is an illusion of water, and the foolish animals become entrapped by such an illusion and run after water in the desert, although there is no water at all. But because there is no water in the desert, one does not conclude that there is no water at all. The intelligent person knows well that there is certainly water, water in the seas and oceans, but such vast reservoirs of water are far, far away from the desert. One should therefore search for water in the vicinity of seas and oceans and not in the desert.
EVERY ONE OF US IS SEARCHING AFTER REAL HAPPINESS IN LIFE,
namely eternal life, eternal or unlimited knowledge and unending blissful life. But foolish people who have no knowledge of the substance search after the reality of life in the illusion. This material body does not endure eternally, and everything in relation with this temporary body, such as the wife, children, society and country, also changes along with the change of body. This is called saṁsāra, or repetition of birth, death, old age and disease.
WE WOULD LIKE TO FIND A SOLUTION FOR ALL THESE PROBLEMS OF LIFE, BUT WE DO NOT KNOW THE WAY.
Herein it is suggested that anyone who wants to make an end to these miseries of life, namely repetition of birth, death, disease and old age, must take to this process of worshiping the Supreme Lord and not others, as it is also ultimately suggested in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.65). If we at all want to end the cause of our conditioned life, we must take to the worship of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is present in everyone’s heart by His natural affection for all living beings, who are actually the parts and parcels of the Lord (Bg. 18.61).
THE LORD IS ALWAYS AFFECTIONATE TO US, AND HE ALWAYS TRIES TO GET US BACK HOME, BACK TO GODHEAD.
The baby in the lap of his mother is naturally attached to the mother, and the mother is attached to the child. But when the child grows up and becomes overwhelmed by circumstances, he gradually becomes detached from the mother, although the mother always expects some sort of service from the grown-up child and is equally affectionate toward her child, even though the child is forgetful. Similarly, because we are all part and parcel of the Lord, the Lord is always affectionate to us, and He always tries to get us back home, back to Godhead. But we, the conditioned souls, do not care for Him and run instead after the illusory bodily connections. We must therefore extricate ourselves from all illusory connections of the world and seek reunion with the Lord, trying to render service unto Him because He is the ultimate truth. Actually we are hankering after Him as the child seeks the mother. And to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we need not go anywhere else, because the Lord is within our hearts. This does not suggest, however, that we should not go to the places of worship, namely the temples, churches and mosques. Such holy places of worship are also occupied by the Lord because the Lord is omnipresent.
GODLESS CIVILIZATION
For the common man these holy places are centers of learning about the science of God. When the temples are devoid of activities, the people in general become uninterested in such places, and consequently the mass of people gradually become godless, and a godless civilization is the result. Such a hellish civilization artificially increases the conditions of life, and existence becomes intolerable for everyone. The foolish leaders of a godless civilization try to devise various plans to bring about peace and prosperity in the godless world under a patent trademark of materialism, and because such attempts are illusory only, the people elect incompetent, blind leaders, one after another, who are incapable of offering solutions.
If we want at all to end this anomaly of a godless civilization, we must follow the principles of revealed scriptures like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the instruction of a person like Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī who has no attraction for material gain.
You cannot attract people if you have a motive for material gain. You have to be nirmama nirahankara. Then you have to be an effective preacher. Srila Prabhupada never thought he was Hindu, therefore he was able to spread the movement all over the world successfully. He had disciples in Africa, Australia, Japan and China. This is a very important purport, you should think carefully, You cannot understand it unless you compare it with secular humanism.
How the present society is away from the principles recommended in SB. To understand the start difference we need to read SB 4.25.5. This history of Puranjana is allegorical. It is not true, it is a story that helps us understand the reality. Fable uses animals to make a point. Allegory uses humans to make a point. Both are stories trying to indicate the happenings in the world.
SB 4.25.52
On the western side was a gate named Āsurī. Through that gate King Purañjana used to go to the city of Grāmaka, accompanied by his friend Durmada.
The word viṣaya refers to the four bodily necessities of life — eating, sleeping, mating and defending. The word durmadena may be analyzed in this way: dur means duṣṭa, or “sinful,” and mada means “madness.” Every living entity who is in contact with material nature is called mada, or mad. It is said:
When a person is haunted, he becomes practically insane. When one is in an insane condition, he speaks all kinds of nonsense. Thus to become engaged in sense gratification, one has to accept a friend who is durmada, or badly affected by the material disease.
the more one goes to the western side, the more he will find people disinterested in spiritual life. He will find them behaving against the Vedic standards. Because of this, people living in the West are more addicted to sense gratification. In this Bhāgavatam it is confirmed: āsurī nāma paścād dvāḥ. In other words, the population on the western side is interested in an asuric civilization, that is, a materialistic way of life. Lord Caitanya consequently wanted this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to be preached on the western side of the world so that people addicted to sense gratification might be benefited by His teachings.
That is a preamble to what we are going to hear now. That is humanism –
Do humanists believe in God?
They believe in science and proof and try to live a morally good life.
What is meant by secular ethics?
Secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, empathy, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from belief in supernatural revelation or guidance—the source of ethics in many religions.
Arohapanta – Ascending knowledge – moral, logic,,, this is diametrically opposite to KC.
BG 10.10
Tesam satata yuktanam, bhajatam priti puravakam… To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
This is a revelation, this is not academic
Is secular humanism a religion?
What is the difference between atheist and secular humanism?
An atheist does not believe in God; a secular humanist need not necessarily be non-believer in God. Atheism is simply the absence of belief in God; secular humanism is a worldview, and a way of life. An atheist would reject the idea of God; a secular humanist believes God is not necessary to be moral.Sep 27, 2017
Difference between Athiests and Secular Humanists?
An atheist does not believe in God; a secular humanist need not necessarily be non-believer in God. Atheism is simply the absence of belief in God; secular humanism is a worldview, and a way of life. An atheist would reject the idea of God; a secular humanist believes God is not necessary to be moral. An atheist believes religion is a human intervention to frighten human beings to remain moral and ethical; A secular humanist does not subscribe to this view.
Secular humanism education
Rejects God and the transcendental existence. This is the basis for this education
India’s secularism and western secularism
Let’s compare to what SP is saying – Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one’s own heart by His omnipotence. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence.
How to define secular humanism?
All the speculation came over 2000 year period. This is the basis of education today. Prabhupada is diametrically opposed to it. SP says – “We must therefore extricate ourselves from all illusory connections of the world and seek reunion with the Lord, trying to render service unto Him because He is the ultimate truth. “ This is completely opposite to Humanism, humanism says man should completely dependant on himself and not any extraterrestrial or transcendental things… SP is addressing the issue spiritually. Aristotle said the man is the measure. SP is saying – by studying yourself you can understand the creation and God.
SP is saying – “And to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we need not go anywhere else, because the Lord is within our hearts. This does not suggest, however, that we should not go to the places of worship, namely the temples, churches, and mosques. Such holy places of worship are also occupied by the Lord because the Lord is omnipresent.” You do not have to look outside for God, you go inside.
Lord Caitanya – he never stopped people from being a Muslim. But they are attracted to chanting the holy name of the lord. The greeks and western philosophers contaminated the idea of Man is the measure by saying there is no God. Atheists try to do is the atheist synchronism –
Gandhi’s artificial unity did not work. The real unity is we all emanate from the supreme personality of Godhead. People call him Allah, Jesus…
If you put Krsna into the picture all makes sense.