KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.2.35 – PART 2
We can say that our material senses of perception and action are moving because we are identifying the self with the material body, and that the superior principle of Superself is guiding and supplying us according to our desire.
By taking advantage of the guidance of Superself in the form of intelligence, we can either continue to study and to put into practice our conclusion that “I am not this body,” or
We can choose to remain in the false material identification, fancying ourselves to be the possessors and doers.
Our freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant, material misconception or the true, spiritual conception.
One who is unable to live for a moment without Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot but think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day, being engaged in devotional service by hearing, chanting, remembering, offering prayers, worshiping, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, rendering other services, cultivating friendship and surrendering fully to the Lord.
Such activities are all auspicious and full of spiritual potencies, which make the devotee perfect in self-realization, so that his only desire is to achieve the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee undoubtedly approaches the Lord without difficulty. This is called yoga.
By the mercy of the Lord, such a devotee never comes back to this material condition of life. Kṣema refers to the merciful protection of the Lord. The Lord helps the devotee to achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness by yoga, and when he becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious the Lord protects him from falling down to a miserable conditioned life.
SB 2.2.35 TRANSLATION: The Personality of Godhead Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is in every living being along with the individual soul. And this fact is perceived and hypothesized in our acts of seeing and taking help from intelligence.
CLASS NOTES:
“this fact is perceived and hypothesized in our acts of seeing and taking help from the intelligence.”
Fact – Krishna is in every living entity as paramatma.
The general argument of the common man is that since the Lord is not visible to our eyes, how can one either surrender unto Him or render transcendental loving service unto Him? This is a valid question.
To such a common man, here is a practical suggestion given by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī as to how one can perceive the Supreme Lord by reason and perception.
Actually the Lord is not perceivable by our present materialized senses,
This is one of our 4 defects…
but when one is convinced of the presence of the Lord by a practical service attitude, there is a revelation by the Lord’s mercy, and such a pure devotee of the Lord can perceive the Lord’s presence always and everywhere.
You have a secret – have 5 m dollars under the bed, you will not tell everyone, when you die you tell someone whom you trust that there is money. That trust is developed by practical service attitude. All the activities in life do not lead one to anywhere. Service attitude for serving Krsna is the conclusion that one should come to. One of the main reason HVM joined KC. KC is the only way to become free from previous lives. I realized i had a bad karma because of my birth, my family, association had, my father died. There is no way I can change accept when I learnt that we can change it by taking to KC , by talking to devotees, litte bit of BG I read. BG 18.66 – this verse is so important. When I was 22 I fearful, up until then things were not going will. 18.66 says – “I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions, do not fear” another verse BG
Ananyas cintayanto mam… “to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have/… “ Krishna is going to provide what I am missing. I was missing a part of my puzzle…
BG 9.22
But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.
One who is unable to live for a moment without Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot but think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day, being engaged in devotional service by hearing, chanting, remembering, offering prayers, worshiping, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, rendering other services, cultivating friendship and surrendering fully to the Lord. Such activities are all auspicious and full of spiritual potencies, which make the devotee perfect in self-realization, so that his only desire is to achieve the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee undoubtedly approaches the Lord without difficulty. This is called yoga. By the mercy of the Lord, such a devotee never comes back to this material condition of life. Kṣema refers to the merciful protection of the Lord. The Lord helps the devotee to achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness by yoga, and when he becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious the Lord protects him from falling down to a miserable conditioned life.
This is why Sri Vaishnavas chose these 2 verses from BG they repeat everyday. – BG 18.66, BG 9.22. Mixed bag of karma is all gone and it is replaced by bhakti.
Up until that point everything is academic, I realized that this a completely different system to get knowledge. It is through service the revelation happens.
SB 2.2.35
He can perceive that intelligence is the form-direction of the Paramātmā plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead.
Intelligence is coming from Paramatma. God is actually giving you and me the intelligence and it is called form direction.
Form direction – direction on what is the right thing for you… don’t go for sense gratification, even though everybody is going that way…
The presence of Paramātmā in everyone’s company is not very difficult to realize, even for the common man.
We are looking for absolute truth outside, but actually he is right in the heart.
The procedure is as follows.
- One can perceive one’s self-identification and feel positively that he exists.
Rene De Carte says – I am this mind, I think therefore I exist… existing means it is the soul… but he is saying it is the mind. He is like a mayavadi. He missed the main point – soul. Existence – is it the body, mind or the soul.
- He may not feel it very abruptly, but by using a little intelligence, he canfeel that he is not the body. He can feel that the hand, the leg, the head, the hair and the limbs are all his bodily parts and parcels, but as such the hand, the leg, the head, etc., cannot be identified with his self. Therefore just by using intelligence he can distinguish and separate his self from other things that he sees. So the natural conclusion is that the living being, either man or beast, is the seer, and he sees besides himself all other things. So there is a difference between the seer and the seen.
- Now, by a little use of intelligence we can also readily agree that the living being who sees the things beyond himself by ordinary vision has no power to see or to move independently. THESE THINGS ARE GIVEN TO US – All our ordinary actions and perceptions depend on various forms of energy supplied to us by nature in various combinations. Our senses of perception and of action, that is to say, our five perceptive senses of (1) hearing, (2) touch, (3) sight, (4) taste and (5) smell, as well as our five senses of action, namely (1) hands, (2) legs, (3) speech, (4) evacuation organs and (5) reproductive organs, and also our three subtle senses, namely (1) mind, (2) intelligence and (3) ego (thirteen senses in all), are supplied to us by various arrangements of gross or subtle forms of natural energy. And it is equally evident that our objects of perception are nothing but the products of the inexhaustible permutations and combinations of the forms taken by natural energy. As this conclusively proves that the ordinary living being has no independent power of perception or of motion, and as we undoubtedly feel our existence being conditioned by nature’s energy, we conclude that he who sees is spirit, and that the senses as well as the objects of perception are material.
Energy – gross elements, subtle elements, working senses, …. Third point is the turning point..
- The spiritual quality of the seer is manifest in our dissatisfaction with the limited state of materially conditioned existence. That is the difference between spirit and matter. There are some less intelligent arguments that matter develops the power of seeing and moving as a certain organic development, but such an argument cannot be accepted because there is no experimental evidence that matter has anywhere produced a living entity. Trust no future, however pleasant. Idle talks regarding future development of matter into spirit are actually foolish because no matter has ever developed the power of seeing or moving in any part of the world. Therefore it is definite that matter and spirit are two different identities, and this conclusion is arrived at by the use of intelligence.
Our spirit needs freedom, does not want to be subject to time… Tree is stationary in one place for thousands of years tolerating wind, heat cold, insects, carving things… Can we do that, we will complain. People are complaining all the time. Soul doesn’t want to be limited. If someone says you cant get into Stanford as you dont have what it takes.. Then he will be upset, how can I not get in… we are conditioned by the 3 modes of nature…
They are trying to find a genetic way of curing cancer. You cannot cure by manipulating genes. That is a dead end. You can heal cancer by changing the lifestyle. Read the book – 5 steps to optimal health…
Just because a computer can defeat a grand master does not mean that the computer becomes a human being. They are only programmed to a certain level by the human beings. The chess master will do more than just playing chess. Their point is at some point the robot will be independent of the human.
Paramatma is the highest level of intelligence. He is revealing us the form direction. Intelligence is the discriminative power. When you choose into the direction of sense gratification then there is no intelligence.
- Now we come to the point that the things which are seen by a little use of intelligence cannot be animate unless we accept someone as the user of or director of the intelligence. Intelligence gives one direction like some higher authority, and the living being cannot see or move or eat or do anything without the use of intelligence. When one fails to take advantage of intelligence he becomes a deranged man, and so a living being is dependent on intelligence or the direction of a superior being. Such intelligence is all-pervading. Every living being has his intelligence, and this intelligence, being the direction of some higher authority, is just like a father giving direction to his son. The higher authority, who is present and residing within every individual living being, is the Superself.
Intelligence is coming from Paramatma, Where is stupidity coming from – it is coming from ignorance, modes of nature are dictating, not wanting to take any direction of Guru or Krsna. Intelligence is all pervading, it is everywhere, we need to connect to it. That is yoga…
The higher authority, who is present and residing within every individual living being, is the Superself. – This is what is to be taught to Children, they dont become intelligent, they get form direction in the wrong direction..
- At this point in our investigation, we may consider the following question: on the one hand we realize that all our perceptions and activities are conditioned by arrangements of material nature, yet we also ordinarily feel and say, “I am perceiving” or “I am doing.” Therefore we can say that our material senses of perception and action are moving because we are identifying the self with the material body, and that the superior principle of Superself is guiding and supplying us according to our desire. By taking advantage of the guidance of Superself in the form of intelligence, we can either continue to study and to put into practice our conclusion that “I am not this body,” or we can choose to remain in the false material identification, fancying ourselves to be the possessors and doers. Our freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant, material misconception or the true, spiritual conception.
Our free will is limited to the accepting Krsna or rejecting Krsna. This is absolutely brilliant.