KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.5.14 TODAY (07/01/21):
- In all circumstances, neither the material ingredients nor the spiritual parts and parcels are independent of the Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva.
- All things, whether products of the external, internal or marginal potencies of the Lord, are simply displays of the same effulgence of the Lord, just as light, heat and smoke are displays of fire. None of them is separate from the fire — all of them combine together to be called fire.
- The living being is by constitution transcendental to material engagement, but he is now imprisoned by the external energy, and therefore he thinks himself one of the material products. And due to this unholy contact, the pure spiritual entity suffers material miseries under the modes of material nature.
- Clear understanding of material nature, the Supersoul, the individual soul, and their interrelation makes one eligible to become liberated and turn to the spiritual atmosphere without being forced to return to this material nature.
- Whatever one is supposed to do, either for happiness or for distress, one is forced to do because of the bodily constitution. The self, however, is outside all these bodily activities.
- Practically speaking, the body is a machine, designed by the Supreme Lord, to fulfill desires. Because of desires, one is put into difficult circumstances to suffer or to enjoy.
- After the destruction of the material body, the spirit soul is one. The spirit soul, due to contact with material nature, gets different types of bodies.
- A living entity appears to be born because of the birth of the material body, but actually the living entity is eternal; he is not born, and in spite of his being situated in a material body, he is transcendental and eternal. Thus he cannot be destroyed. By nature he is full of bliss. He does not engage himself in any material activities; therefore the activities performed due to his contact with material bodies do not entangle him.
- The air enters into water, mud, stool and whatever else is there; still it does not mix with anything. Similarly, the living entity, even though situated in varieties of bodies, is aloof from them due to his subtle nature. Therefore it is impossible to see with the material eyes how the living entity is in contact with this body and how he is out of it after the destruction of the body. No one in science can ascertain this.
- a small particle of spirit soul, although situated in the heart of this body, is illuminating the whole body by consciousness. Thus consciousness is the proof of the presence of the soul, as sunshine or light is the proof of the presence of the sun. When the soul is present in the body, there is consciousness all over the body, and as soon as the soul has passed from the body there is no more consciousness. This can be easily understood by any intelligent man. Therefore consciousness is not a product of the combinations of matter. It is the symptom of the living entity.
- The consciousness of the living entity, although qualitatively one with the supreme consciousness, is not supreme, because the consciousness of one particular body does not share that of another body. But the Supersoul, which is situated in all bodies as the friend of the individual soul, is conscious of all bodies. That is the difference between supreme consciousness and individual consciousness.
- The purpose of knowledge is to understand distinctly that the living entity has by chance fallen into this material existence. By his personal endeavor in association with authorities, saintly persons and a spiritual master, he has to understand his position and then revert to spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness by understanding Bhagavad-gītā as it is explained by the Personality of Godhead.
SB 2.5.14
The five elementary ingredients of creation, the interaction thereof set up by eternal time, and the intuition or nature of the individual living beings are all differentiated parts and parcels of the Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, and in truth, there is no other value in them.
This phenomenal world is impersonally the representation of Vāsudeva because the ingredients of its creation, their interaction and the enjoyer of the resultant action, the living being, are all produced by the external and internal energies of Lord Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4-5). The ingredients, namely earth, water, fire, air and sky, as well as the conception of material identity, intelligence and the mind, are produced of the external energy of the Lord. The living entity who enjoys the interaction of the above gross and subtle ingredients, as set up by eternal time, is an offshoot of internal potency, with freedom to remain either in the material world or in the spiritual world. In the material world the living entity is enticed by deluding nescience, but in the spiritual world he is in the normal condition of spiritual existence without any delusion. The living entity is known as the marginal potency of the Lord. But in all circumstances, neither the material ingredients nor the spiritual parts and parcels are independent of the Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva, for all things, whether products of the external, internal or marginal potencies of the Lord, are simply displays of the same effulgence of the Lord, just as light, heat and smoke are displays of fire. None of them is separate from the fire — all of them combine together to be called fire. Similarly, all phenomenal manifestations, as well as the effulgence of the body of Vāsudeva, are His impersonal features, whereas He eternally exists in His transcendental form called sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, distinct from all conceptions of the material ingredients mentioned above.
“ there is no other value in them.” – means that they are dependent on the Lord. They cannot be independent. We are learning the spiritual vision in this section of Bhagavatam. There is nothing outside of connection to the Lord. Lord is the eswara – supreme controller. This is misunderstood by all materialists and partially misunderstood by Mayavadis. There are many levels of misunderstanding. Until we understand who Krsna is and why there is material world.. Manifestations of krishna.. This is incomprehensible by the materialists. We came to this material world due to our envy of Krsna.
SB 1.7.5
The living being is by constitution transcendental to material engagement, but he is now imprisoned by the external energy, and therefore he thinks himself one of the material products. And due to this unholy contact, the pure spiritual entity suffers material miseries under the modes of material nature.
Love and hate, happiness and distress are interactions caused by the 5 great elements – earth, water,… and the subtle elements are mind, intelligence and ego… these things when we misunderstand the relationship with Krsna… we become conditioned.
LIving Symptoms – consciousness and convictions – manifestations of subtle body – mind, intelligence.
Thinking, feeling, willing – is faulty when the living entity is conditioned by the 3 modes..
A soul does not need to eat, sleep, mate and defend. People do not understand this. We are all under the grip of maya and we are forced to do things. This is explained in BG and it is hard for most people to understand.
(BG 13.24)
One who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his present position.
Clear understanding of material nature, the Supersoul, the individual soul and their interrelation makes one eligible to become liberated and turn to the spiritual atmosphere without being forced to return to this material nature. This is the result of knowledge. The purpose of knowledge is to understand distinctly that the living entity has by chance fallen into this material existence. By his personal endeavor in association with authorities, saintly persons and a spiritual master, he has to understand his position and then revert to spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness by understanding Bhagavad-gītā as it is explained by the Personality of Godhead. Then it is certain that he will never come again into this material existence; he will be transferred into the spiritual world for a blissful eternal life of knowledge.
(BG 13.30) TRANSCENDENTAL VISION
One who can see that all activities are performed by the body, which is created of material nature, and sees that the self does nothing, actually sees.
This body is made by material nature under the direction of the Supersoul, and whatever activities are going on in respect to one’s body are not his doing. Whatever one is supposed to do, either for happiness or for distress, one is forced to do because of the bodily constitution. The self, however, is outside all these bodily activities. This body is given according to one’s past desires. To fulfill desires, one is given the body, with which he acts accordingly. Practically speaking, the body is a machine, designed by the Supreme Lord, to fulfill desires. Because of desires, one is put into difficult circumstances to suffer or to enjoy. This transcendental vision of the living entity, when developed, makes one separate from bodily activities. One who has such a vision is an actual seer.
We are acting in a deluded state of mind due to false assumptions.
Tapasya – voluntarily giving us sense gratification. Previously tapasya for spiritual benefit was very tough and hard. But by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya tapasya is made very pleasant. Taking prasadam is pleasant, chanting and dancing is pleasant.. It is happily performed.
Simple language & Short sentences… Hemingway.. (Author who is famous for writing simple & short)
Prabhupada is way ahead of Hemmingway in explaining extremely complex concepts in a very simple language and yet it is hard for many to understand although it is direct language.
Do you know anyone who is separate from bodily activities? No one is there? When SP says you are not this body.. You are this soul. As long as we identify ourselves with the body we suffer. Here is an example of this… Jayananda Das , he developed Leukemia.. Right upto the last minute he was engaged in devotional service. He understood he is not this body.. Although his body was under excruciating pain he was performing devotional service. He was the first recognized saint in Iskcon.. Prabhupada confirmed this. We deny ourselves selfish sense gratification, we use everything we have to please Krsna.
(BG 13.31) SPIRITUAL VISION
When a sensible man ceases to see different identities due to different material bodies and he sees how beings are expanded everywhere, he attains to the Brahman conception.
When one can see that the various bodies of living entities arise due to the different desires of the individual soul and do not actually belong to the soul itself, one actually sees. In the material conception of life, we find someone a demigod, someone a human being, a dog, a cat, etc. This is material vision, not actual vision. This material differentiation is due to a material conception of life. After the destruction of the material body, the spirit soul is one. The spirit soul, due to contact with material nature, gets different types of bodies. When one can see this, he attains spiritual vision; thus being freed from differentiations like man, animal, big, low, etc., one becomes purified in his consciousness and able to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness in his spiritual identity. How he then sees things will be explained in the next verse.
Brahma Jyothi is made of living entities.. Pencils of rays…
What is sunlight made of? They do not mention anything about living entities..
(BG 13.32) SOUL NEITHER DOES ANYTHING NOR IS ENTANGLED.
Those with the vision of eternity can see that the imperishable soul is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature. Despite contact with the material body, O Arjuna, the soul neither does anything nor is entangled.
A living entity appears to be born because of the birth of the material body, but actually the living entity is eternal; he is not born, and in spite of his being situated in a material body, he is transcendental and eternal. Thus he cannot be destroyed. By nature he is full of bliss. He does not engage himself in any material activities; therefore the activities performed due to his contact with material bodies do not entangle him.
13th chapter is very fundamental and subtle..
(BG 13.33) SOUL SITUATED IN BRAHMAN VISION DOES NOT MIX WITH THE BODY
The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with anything, although it is all-pervading. Similarly, the soul situated in Brahman vision does not mix with the body, though situated in that body.
The air enters into water, mud, stool and whatever else is there; still it does not mix with anything. Similarly, the living entity, even though situated in varieties of bodies, is aloof from them due to his subtle nature. Therefore it is impossible to see with the material eyes how the living entity is in contact with this body and how he is out of it after the destruction of the body. No one in science can ascertain this. (He knows this and that is why he wrote this)
This is incomprehensible, amazing purports by SP and amazing verses by Krsna.
(BG 13.34) WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?
O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.
There are various theories regarding consciousness. Here in Bhagavad-gītā the example of the sun and the sunshine is given. As the sun is situated in one place but is illuminating the whole universe, so a small particle of spirit soul, although situated in the heart of this body, is illuminating the whole body by consciousness. Thus consciousness is the proof of the presence of the soul, as sunshine or light is the proof of the presence of the sun. When the soul is present in the body, there is consciousness all over the body, and as soon as the soul has passed from the body there is no more consciousness. This can be easily understood by any intelligent man. Therefore consciousness is not a product of the combinations of matter. It is the symptom of the living entity. The consciousness of the living entity, although qualitatively one with the supreme consciousness, is not supreme, because the consciousness of one particular body does not share that of another body. But the Supersoul, which is situated in all bodies as the friend of the individual soul, is conscious of all bodies. That is the difference between supreme consciousness and individual consciousness.
Scientists are trying to convince us that consciousness is the advanced stage of matter..
13th chapter is teaching us how to see things. No material scientists has an idea of what is being said here.