KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.3.23
- The ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts.
- The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord.
- The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, who has also served another pure devotee. That is the way of pure disciplic succession or devotional paramparā.
- Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and the great saint replied – “O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees….”
- Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly.
- Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.”
- A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet.
- Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the vedic literatures.
- The mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association.
- The conclusion is – one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states, kāmaṁ hṛd-rogam. Materialistic life means that one is afflicted by a formidable disease called lusty desire. Liberation means freedom from lusty desires. As long as one’s lusty desires are unfulfilled, one must take birth after birth to fulfill them.
- Prahlāda Mahārāja says, “If I must take some benediction from You, I pray that within the core of my heart there may be no material desires.”
- As soon as one has material desires, one loses his spiritual identity. Then all the paraphernalia of one’s life, including one’s senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one’s original Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- The only remedy is to take to devotional service, which begins when one is free from all material desires. Desirelessness means freedom from material desires.
- The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires. Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, one must be free from all material desires.
- The living entity must be living, always existing with desires, ambitions and so on. These should be purified, however, so that one can desire spiritually and be spiritually ambitious, without material contamination.
- If one wants to stop repeated birth and death, one must take to the devotional service of the Lord.
- “Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one’s senses are purified.
SB 2.3.22 TRANSLATION:
The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.
CLASS NOTES:
THE BREATHING DEAD BODY IS A GHOST
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts.
Two types of ghosts –
Walking living ghosts one’s which have a body – Always talking nonsensical things and doing nonsensical things. never has respect for pure devotees and Vishnu deities in the temple.
Dead ghosts – one who has no body
THE STAGE OF PURE DEVOTION IS ATTAINED BY SINCERELY SERVING A PURE DEVOTEE OF THE LORD.
There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.
Only by the mercy of the devotee one cannot get the mercy of the lord.. “Yasya prasada… bhgavat prasada… “ Process of KC is to accept the bonafide spiritual master
and serve the spiritual master and pariprasnena sevaya…
What does pure mean – levels of purity – kanishtadhikari, madhyamadhikari, kanishtadhikari… one should always accept the Kanishtadhikari, may also accept Madhyamadhikari. He may not take you back to the Godhead. But he will always engage you on hearing and chanting the words of Krsna, acaryas always and may refer you to pure devotees… Parampara means there is a succession of sm who are engaged in pure devotional service… How does the spiritual master engage the disciples in devotional service. “Srivigrahara… dhana nitya nana… “ This is the whole process of KC. It is very scientific. If we follow the process we get the result. We become blessed by Krsna and our desires get purified and the result is love godhead…
(ŚB 7.10.7) NO MATERIAL DESIRES IN THE CORE OF THE HEART
“Yadi yasya…
O my Lord, best of the givers of benediction, if You at all want to bestow a desirable benediction upon me, then I pray from Your Lordship that within the core of my heart there be no material desires.
Devotees are always on the positive platform, in contrast to the Māyāvādīs, who want to make everything impersonal or void. One cannot remain void (śūnyavādī); rather, one must possess something. Therefore, the devotee, on the positive side, wants to possess something, and this possession is very nicely described by Prahlāda Mahārāja, who says, “If I must take some benediction from You, I pray that within the core of my heart there may be no material desires.” The desire to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not at all material.
Mayavadis say – They say Krsna is “Tamasa Budhi…” Intelligence in Ignorance… they are worst blasphemers of Krsna.
(SB 7.10.8) KĀMAṀ HṚD-ROGAM (LUSTY DESIRES) IS THE REASON FOR ALL THE SUFFERING
O my Lord, because of lusty desires from the very beginning of one’s birth, the functions of one’s senses, mind, life, body, religion, patience, intelligence, shyness, opulence, strength, memory and truthfulness are vanquished.
As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kāmaṁ hṛd-rogam. Materialistic life means that one is afflicted by a formidable disease called lusty desire. Liberation means freedom from lusty desires because it is only due to such desires that one must accept repeated birth and death. As long as one’s lusty desires are unfulfilled, one must take birth after birth to fulfill them.
All you need is one lusty desire and all the functions of senses, mind, life, body.. Are all ruined… People are living with millions of lusty desires.. And imagine how births they need to take… What is the cause of all the suffering in India… lusty desires.. The vaccine against all diseases and problems is getting rid of lusty desires.. This is the science and no one is teaching people about this.. The sickness of lusty desires start from the point of birth.. The reason why we are born itself is because of lusty desires… This is the sickness of the heart… The real reason for all the problems is “Kamad Hrd Rogam”
THE ONLY REMEDY IS TO TAKE TO DEVOTIONAL SERVICE, WHICH BEGINS WHEN ONE IS FREE FROM ALL MATERIAL DESIRES.
Because of material desires, one performs various types of activities and receives various types of bodies with which to try to fulfill desires that are never satisfied. The only remedy is to take to devotional service, which begins when one is free from all material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. Anya-abhilāṣitā means “material desire,” and śūnyam means “free from.” The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires, as described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, however, one must be free from all material desires. Desirelessness means freedom from material desires. This is described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam.
AS SOON AS ONE HAS MATERIAL DESIRES, ONE LOSES HIS SPIRITUAL IDENTITY.
Then all the paraphernalia of one’s life, including one’s senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one’s original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as one has material desires, one cannot properly use his senses, intelligence, mind and so on for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Māyāvādī philosophers want to become impersonal, senseless and mindless, but that is not possible. The living entity must be living, always existing with desires, ambitions and so on. These should be purified, however, so that one can desire spiritually and be spiritually ambitious, without material contamination. In every living entity these propensities exist because he is a living entity. When materially contaminated, however, one is put into the hands of material misery (janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi).
IF ONE WANTS TO STOP REPEATED BIRTH AND DEATH, ONE MUST TAKE TO THE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE OF THE LORD.
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
“Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one’s senses are purified.
SB 2.3.23 – Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Bhāg. 5.12.12):
rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā
na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair
vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam
“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”
KṚṢṆA IS NEVER OBTAINABLE DIRECTLY. ONLY THE DEVOTEES CAN DELIVER KṚṢṆA TO ANOTHER DEVOTEE
In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet.
In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the LORD IS NEVER TO BE FOUND BY BECOMING A GREAT SCHOLAR OF THE VEDIC LITERATURES, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee.
In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that ONE SHOULD BE MORE SERIOUS ABOUT SEEKING THE MERCY OF THE DEVOTEE THAN THAT OF THE LORD DIRECTLY, AND BY ONE’S DOING SO (BY THE GOOD WILL OF THE DEVOTEE) THE NATURAL ATTRACTION FOR THE SERVICE OF THE LORD WILL BE REVIVED.