Posted on by JayaSri Devi Dasi

SB 2.3.8 Notes – 05/10/21

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.8

  1. One who wants to establish a good dynasty and be happy in the progress of temporary bodily relations should take shelter of the demigods in other pious planets
  2. But, the problems of birth, death, old age, and disease are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.
  3. One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement in knowledge.
  4. As far as vidyā is concerned, the first mantra of ISO has explained very clearly that the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and that forgetfulness of this fact is ignorance. 
  5. The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness. Those who simply engage in the profitless pursuit of sense gratification are worshiping avidyā, according to Śrī Īśopaniṣad.
  6. The purpose of all Vedic literature is to awaken this God-consciousness in the forgetful living being. Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā is the best. 
  7. The aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such realization must be considered avidyā, or nescience. And to culture such nescience means to go down to the darkest region of ignorance.
  8. The veda-vāda-rata men, pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately, they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas and misguide others. They give their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of great teachers (ācāryas). 
  9. Thus they progress into the darkest region of ignorance by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. They fall even further into ignorance than those who have no knowledge of the Vedas at all.
  10. One should follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised to the platform of knowledge. 
  11. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the transcendental platform of spiritual understanding. The doubtful persons have no status whatsoever in spiritual emancipation. 
  12. One should follow in the footsteps of great ācāryas who are in the disciplic succession and thereby attain success.

SB 2.3.8  TRANSLATION:

One should worship Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee for spiritual advancement in knowledge, and for protection of heredity and advancement of a dynasty one should worship the various demigods.

CLASS NOTES: 

The path of religion entails making progress on the path of spiritual advancement, ultimately reviving the eternal relation with Lord Viṣṇu in His impersonal effulgence, His localized Paramātmā feature, and ultimately His personal feature by spiritual advancement in knowledge. And one who wants to establish a good dynasty and be happy in the progress of temporary bodily relations should take shelter of the Pitās and the demigods in other pious planets. Such different classes of worshipers of different demigods may ultimately reach the respective planets of those demigods within the universe, but he who reaches the spiritual planets in the brahmajyoti achieves the highest perfection.

This is a very interesting verse. It evokes the theme from the previous verse – “But these problems are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.  Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that out of the 8,400,000 species of living entities, the human form of life is rare and valuable, and out of those rare human beings those who are conscious of the material problems are rarer still, and the still more rare persons are those who are conscious of the value of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which contains the messages of the Lord and His pure devotees”

This is further explained in ISO 9

ISO 9 

“Those who are engaged in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the so-called culture of knowledge.”

This mantra offers a comparative study of vidyā and avidyā. Avidyā, or ignorance, is undoubtedly dangerous, but vidyā, or knowledge, is even more dangerous when mistaken or misguided. This mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad is more applicable today than at any time in the past. Modern civilization has advanced considerably in the field of mass education, but the result is that people are more unhappy than ever before because of the stress placed on material advancement to the exclusion of the most important part of life, the spiritual aspect.

As far as vidyā is concerned, the first mantra has explained very clearly that the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and that forgetfulness of this fact is ignorance. The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness. In view of this, a godless civilization directed toward the so-called advancement of education is more dangerous than a civilization in which the masses of people are less “educated.”

Of the different classes of men – karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs – the karmīs are those who are engaged in the activities of sense gratification. In the modern civilization, 99.9 percent of the people are engaged in the activities of sense gratification under the flags of industrialism, economic development, altruism, political activism, and so on. All these activities are more or less based on satisfaction of the senses, to the exclusion of the kind of God consciousness described in the first mantra.

In the language of the Bhagavad-gītā (7.15), people who are engaged in gross sense gratification are mūḍhas – asses. The ass is a symbol of stupidity. Those who simply engage in the profitless pursuit of sense gratification are worshiping avidyā, according to Śrī Īśopaniṣad. And those who play the role of helping this sort of civilization in the name of educational advancement are actually doing more harm than those who are on the platform of gross sense gratification. The advancement of learning by a godless people is as dangerous as a valuable jewel on the hood of a cobra. A cobra decorated with a valuable jewel is more dangerous than one not decorated. In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (3.11.12), the advancement of education by a godless people is compared to decorations on a dead body. In India, as in many other countries, some people follow the custom of leading a procession with a decorated dead body for the pleasure of the lamenting relatives. In the same way, modern civilization is a patchwork of activities meant to cover the perpetual miseries of material existence. All such activities are aimed toward sense gratification. But above the senses is the mind, and above the mind is the intelligence, and above the intelligence is the soul. Thus the aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such realization must be considered avidyā, or nescience. And to culture such nescience means to go down to the darkest region of ignorance.

THE PURPOSE OF ALL VEDAS

As stated in Mantra One, we should know that the Personality of Godhead is the proprietor of everything and that we must be satisfied with our allotted portions of the necessities of life. The purpose of all Vedic literature is to awaken this God consciousness in the forgetful living being, and this same purpose is presented in various ways in the different scriptures of the world for the understanding of a foolish mankind. Thus the ultimate purpose of all religions is to bring one back to Godhead

.

VEDA VADA RATAS – 

According to the Bhagavad-gītā (2.42, 7.15), mistaken mundane educators are known as veda-vāda-rata and māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. They may also be atheistic demons, the lowest of men. Veda-vāda-ratas are especially condemned in this mantra by the very appropriate Sanskrit words vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ. Vidyāyām refers to the study of the Vedas because the Vedas are the origin of all knowledge (vidyā), and ratāḥ means “those engaged.” Vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ thus means “those engaged in the study of the Vedas.”

  1. These veda-vāda-rata men are not at all interested in the Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, they are fascinated by such fruitive results as the attainment of heaven.
  2. They pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas.
  3. They, instead of realizing that the purpose of the Vedas is to revive the forgetful soul’s lost relationship with the Personality of Godhead, take it for granted that such side issues as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification – the lust for which causes their material bondage in the first place – are the ultimate end of the Vedas. 
  4. Such people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. 
  5. Sometimes they even condemn the Purāṇas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen. 
  6. The veda-vāda-ratas give their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of great teachers (ācāryas). 
  7. They also tend to raise some unscrupulous person from among themselves and present him as the leading exponent of Vedic knowledge.
  8. The so-called students of the Vedas are condemned herein because they are ignorant of the actual purpose of the Vedas on account of their disobeying the ācāryas. 
  9. Such veda-vāda-ratas search out meanings in every word of the Vedas to suit their own purposes. 
  10. They do not know that the Vedic literature is a collection of extraordinary books that can be understood only through the chain of disciplic succession.
  1. These veda-vāda-rata men are not at all interested in the Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, they are fascinated by such fruitive results as the attainment of heaven.
  2. They pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas.
  3. They, instead of realizing that the purpose of the Vedas is to revive the forgetful soul’s lost relationship with the Personality of Godhead, take it for granted that such side issues as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification – the lust for which causes their material bondage in the first place – are the ultimate end of the Vedas. 
  4. Such people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. 
  5. Sometimes they even condemn the Purāṇas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen. 
  6. The veda-vāda-ratas give their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of great teachers (ācāryas). 
  7. They also tend to raise some unscrupulous person from among themselves and present him as the leading exponent of Vedic knowledge.
  8. The so-called students of the Vedas are condemned herein because they are ignorant of the actual purpose of the Vedas on account of their disobeying the ācāryas. 
  9. Such veda-vāda-ratas search out meanings in every word of the Vedas to suit their own purposes. 
  10. They do not know that the Vedic literature is a collection of extraordinary books that can be understood only through the chain of disciplic succession.

One must approach a bona fide spiritual master in order to understand the transcendental message of the Vedas. That is the direction of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.12). 

This mantra is an indictment. 

BG 4.40 

But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

Modern education puts a doubt in the mind about the existence of God. They say if there is GOd, how is there evil in this world? Oftentimes there is no logical explanation. Christians have their own interpretation. Muslims have their own interpretation. They say there is evil as people are not following the orders of the lord. They say you need to have an abortion and bring a child into the world of evil. They say it is a woman’s rights – she should do whatever she wants to do with her body. 

Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā is the best. 

  1. Persons who are almost like animals have no faith in, or knowledge of, the standard revealed scriptures; and 
  2. some, even though they have knowledge of, or can cite passages from, the revealed scriptures, have actually no faith in these words. 
  3. And even though others may have faith in scriptures like Bhagavad-gītā, they do not believe in or worship the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.Such persons cannot have any standing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They fall down. 
  4. Out of all the above-mentioned persons, those who have no faith and are always doubtful make no progress at all.  (Modern education, scripture is not scientific)
  5. Men without faith in God and His revealed word find no good in this world, nor in the next. For them there is no happiness whatsoever. 

One should therefore follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised to the platform of knowledge. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the transcendental platform of spiritual understanding. In other words, doubtful persons have no status whatsoever in spiritual emancipation. One should therefore follow in the footsteps of great ācāryas who are in the disciplic succession and thereby attain success.