KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.17
- Devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods by its manifestations of past, present and future, does not act on the transcendental plane.
- The influence of time is exhibited by the symptoms of birth, death, old age and disease, and these four principles of material conditions are present everywhere in any part of the material cosmos up to the planet Brahmaloka, where the duration of life of the inhabitants appears to us to be fabulous.
- Insurmountable time even brings about the death of Brahmā, so what to speak of other demigods like Indra, Candra, Sūrya, Vāyu and Varuṇa?
- The astronomical influence directed by the different demigods over mundane creatures is also conspicuous by its absence.
- For a devotee on the transcendental plane
- there is no satanic fear at al
- He is guṇātīta, or above the material modes of goodness, passion and ignoranc
- the false ego of “I am the lord of all I survey” does not arise
- is pure in his consciousness, and as such he has no false ego to lord it over the material nature.
- his pure consciousness directs him to surrender unto the Supreme Lord
- There are two types of transcendentalists – Impersonalists and devotees
- For the impersonalist the ultimate goal or destination is the brahmajyoti of the spiritual sky, but for the devotees the ultimate goal is the Vaikuṇṭha planets.
- The Lord is the full-fledged form of eternity, bliss and knowledge, but the formless brahmajyoti is simply eternity and knowledge.
- The Vaikuṇṭha planets are also forms of eternity, bliss and knowledge, and therefore the devotees of the Lord, who are admitted into the abode of the Lord, also get bodies of eternity, bliss and knowledge
- In the Bhagavad-gītā, three principal subjects have been explained by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, namely karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga, but one can reach the Vaikuṇṭha planets by the practice of bhakti-yoga only. The other two are incompetent in helping one reach the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, although they can, however, conveniently take one to the effulgent brahmajyoti,
SB 2.2.17 TRANSLATION:
In that transcendental state of labdhopaśānti, there is no supremacy of devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods who are empowered to rule over mundane creatures. (And what to speak of the demigods themselves?) Nor is there the mode of material goodness, nor passion, nor ignorance, nor even the false ego, nor the material Causal Ocean, nor the material nature.
CLASS NOTES:
What is Labdhopasanthi – Labdhopasanti – In his pure, unalloyed state, the living being attains the stage of full bliss, labdhopaśānti, and ceases all material hankerings.
DEVASTATING TIME, WHICH CONTROLS EVEN THE CELESTIAL DEMIGODS BY ITS MANIFESTATIONS OF PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, DOES NOT ACT ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL PLANE.
The influence of time is exhibited by the symptoms of birth, death, old age and disease, and these four principles of material conditions are present everywhere in any part of the material cosmos up to the planet Brahmaloka, where the duration of life of the inhabitants appears to us to be fabulous. Insurmountable time even brings about the death of Brahmā, so what to speak of other demigods like Indra, Candra, Sūrya, Vāyu and Varuṇa? The astronomical influence directed by the different demigods over mundane creatures is also conspicuous by its absence.
LIVING ENTITIES IN THE MATERIAL EXISTANCE –
- are afraid of Satanic influence,
- change their material bodies in different shapes and forms under the influence of the different modes of material nature
- the false ego of the living being trying to lord it over the material nature is something like the moth’s falling in a blazing fire. The moth is captivated by the glaring beauty of the fire, and when he comes to enjoy it, the blazing fire consumes him.
FOR A DEVOTEE ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL PLANE –
- there is no satanic fear at all
- is guṇātīta, or above the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance
- the false ego of “I am the lord of all I survey” does not arise
- is pure in his consciousness, and as such he has no false ego to lord it over the material nature.
- his pure consciousness directs him to surrender unto the Supreme Lord
The above-mentioned state of affairs is factual on the transcendental plane, but is factually revealed in a transcendentalist’s knowledge of the advanced state of pure consciousness.
Such transcendentalists are of two types, namely
- the impersonalists and
- the devotees.
For the impersonalist the ultimate goal or destination is the brahmajyoti of the spiritual sky, but for the devotees the ultimate goal is the Vaikuṇṭha planets. The devotees experience the above-mentioned state of affairs by attainment of spiritual forms for activity in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. But the impersonalist, because of his neglecting the association of the Lord, does not develop a spiritual body for spiritual activity, but remains a spiritual spark only, merged in the effulgent spiritual rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The Lord is the full-fledged form of eternity, bliss and knowledge, but the formless brahmajyoti is simply eternity and knowledge. The Vaikuṇṭha planets are also forms of eternity, bliss and knowledge, and therefore the devotees of the Lord, who are admitted into the abode of the Lord, also get bodies of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As such there is no difference between one and another. The Lord’s abode, name, fame, entourage, etc., are of the same transcendental quality, and how this transcendental quality differs from the material world is explained herewith in this verse. In the Bhagavad-gītā, three principal subjects have been explained by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, namely karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga, but one can reach the Vaikuṇṭha planets by the practice of bhakti-yoga only. The other two are incompetent in helping one reach the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, although they can, however, conveniently take one to the effulgent brahmajyoti, as described above.
Explain how Krsna is unique and possesses so many transcendental qualities, that are only partially manifest in living entities. We should make an exhaustive list and carry with us so if people say to us that they do not believe in God, to preach and show who Krsna is. By doing this even our faith for Krsna increases and we will never leave Krsna. This is the science of Krsna. If you can show how God is unique and how there is only one supreme personality of Godhead that refutes all the otehr theories afloat.
1. Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- “Isvara parama Krsna Sacit ananda vigraha..” Brahma Samhita -5.1
- Krsna is the supreme personalkity
- His body is made of Eternity, bliss and knowledge.
- He is govinda – protector of cows
- He is Anadi, no beginning, original person, he is the cause of all causes
- BG 10.8 – “Aham sarvasa prabhavo” – Krishna is the source of everything material and spiritual. Those who know that surrender and engage in dev service.
- What is emanating from Him – All plenary, partial plenary and partial partial plenary expansions are emanating from Him. Krishna – Balaram – First Chatur Vyuha, – Narayana – Second Chatur vyuha – Millions of narayanas in every planet in spiritual sky in Vaikunta – Vishnu incarnations into the material world – Ksirodakasayi Vishnu – so many incarnations of the Lord. All these are expansions of Krsna Himself and every one of His expansion is transcendental. He expands as the material nature and populates the material nature with living entities andincludes entire materiaal nature within His virat rupa. He permeates entire material nature as paramatma. Sustains all worlds and is the basis of spiritual and material world as Brahma Jyothi.
- BG 10.12 – “Param Brahma Param Dhama…” He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest.
- BG 10.15 – He is the God of all Gods, Source of all plenary, partial plenary expansions, He is the deva deva, Jagat pati
- SB 1.1.1 – He is source of everything, Supreme personality of Godhead, no one is equal to or greater than HIm.
2. He is the Paramatma permeating sitting in everyone’s heart and permeating the whole creation
- BG 10.20 – source of all purusa incarnations
- BG 9.5 – He is mystic opulence, He is independant he is maintainer of everything, source of everything,present everyhwere, He is not part of materil cosmic manifestation.
- BG 14.27, BG 7.25, BG 4.35 – source of Brahma Jyothi, which is His bodily effulgence
- BG 7.4, BG 7.14 – Source of Material nature
- BG 7.5, 7.6, 7.7 – Source of all living beings
- BG 7.12, 7.13 – Source of 3 modes
- BG 7.10 – maintainer of all worlds everything is emanating from Him and all living entities tooo
3. Krsna is the Acintya Abedha bedha tattva – Simultaneously one inconceivabley different
- BG 7.12
4. Krsna is enexhaustible
- ISO invocation – is einexhaustible, yet never dimnished, unfathomable, infinite energies, source of all energies.
5. Sad Aishwarya – He has all the six opulences in full
6. Aashta Gunas – He has the eight qualities
7. Ashta Sidhis – He has eight perfections
8. Krsna has no work that can effect Krsna
- BG 4.14
9. Mutually contradictory qualities no one can emulate
10. He mystifies everyone – Narada muni is mystified by seeing Him in16,108 palaces doing different things in different palace
11. He is not subjected to time, birth, death, old age disease,
12. He is the source of Virat rupa which encompasses everything.
13. He is the master of all 64 qualities, mastered 64 artistic expressions
14. He is surrounded by mazing devotees who have incredible love for Him.
15. He plays the flute
Obvisouly the subject of Krsna is infinite. But we should still we need to make this list and carry with us, if one says that they are God or questions about the existence of Krsna, we should be able to explain all this and defeat them. This is very important that we know this we can explain very simply and easily. So people should know that they know very little about God and not anything about God and that they should not accept any upstart as God.
A devotee who has knowledge and is regulated and yet he is not happy, can fall down. This ananda is part of us. If we are not happy we cannot be a successful preacher and we cannot be successful at anything. The devotee falls down. That is why Mayavadis fall down. They reject that Krsna is a personality, they reject Vaikunta, devotional service, and finally they reject everything. Their knowledge is incomplete, they are not really experiencing bliss, hence they fall down.
The only happiness for the impersonalists is – there is no material suffering (absence of suffering), but there is no transcendental happiness…therefore they are prone to fall down. They are brahmanandis. They reject the material world and along with Krsna. Then How can there be bliss.
It is like – If you have tooth ache and go to the dentist and he cuts your head. You have to heal the tooth ache.
The soul thinks I am the Esvara aham bhogi – that is the disease of the soul. As soon as the soul thinks that I am not the isvara and I am not the bhogi…this absence of suffering is not sukhi. The positivie thing exceeds way far from absence of suffering to not even have to go through suffering. To experience this you have to be a person.
Their philosophy is self defeating …
Ananda chinmaya Raasa – There can never be ananda without rasa. Transcendental relationship.
In this material world everything is relational also as it is perverted reflection of spritual. Ofcourse there are 5 types of relationships with Krsna… if you are not a person how can you experience it.