SB 2.6.32 Notes – 08/14/21

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.6.32:

  1. The conception of one without a second is clearly confirmed here. The one is Lord Vāsudeva, and only by His different energies and expansions are different manifestations, both in the material and in the spiritual worlds, maintained.
  2. In the material world also, Lord Vāsudeva is everything, as stated in the BG 7.19. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti.
  3. So the conception of oneness, as overly stressed by the impersonalist, is also accepted by the personalist devotee of the Lord.
  4. In fact there is no greater truth than Vāsudeva. And Lord Kṛṣṇa affirms the same truth in the BG 7.7. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: “There is nothing above Me [Lord Kṛṣṇa].”
  5. So the conception of oneness, as overly stressed by the impersonalist, is also accepted by the personalist devotee of the Lord.
  6. The impersonalist perceives the presence of the Lord in water by its taste, and the personalist also glorifies the Lord for His kindly supplying tasty water to quench man’s thirst. That is the way of perceiving the Supreme. 
  7. Practically speaking, there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction. 
  8. Therefore Lord Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya bheda- and abheda-tattva – simultaneous oneness and difference.
  9. Although the personalist and the impersonalist will fight with one another perpetually, a perfect devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows that although Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, He is all-pervading, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Although His personal abode is Goloka Vṛndāvana and He is always staying there, by His different manifestations of energy and by His plenary expansion He is present everywhere in all parts of the material and spiritual creation.
  10. A devotee should see that because Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone’s heart as Paramātmā, every body is the embodiment or the temple of the Supreme Lord; so as one offers respect to the temple of the Lord, he should similarly properly respect each and every body in which the Paramātmā dwells. Everyone should therefore be given proper respect and should not be neglected.
  11. Lord Vāsudeva is one without a second, but because He is all-powerful, He can expand Himself as well as display His omnipotencies.
  12. The living entities are never equal to the Lord. The Lord is nirasta-sāmya-atiśaya; in other words, no one is greater than or equal to the Supreme Lord. So the living entities, including even such great personalities as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, are all subordinate to the Lord.
  13.  In the material world also, in His eternal form of Viṣṇu, He maintains and controls all the affairs of the demigods, including Brahmā and Śiva.
  14. A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is he who believes sincerely that by becoming a devotee of the Lord one becomes fully equipped with everything spiritual. This teaching is imparted by the Lord Himself in the pages of the Bhagavad-gītā, in which it is clearly described that the Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) is everything, and that to surrender unto Him solely and wholly makes one the most perfectly pious man. 
  15. This unflinching faith in Lord Kṛṣṇa prepares one to become a student of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and one who hears Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a devotee like Śukadeva Gosvāmī is sure to attain salvation at the end, as Mahārāja Parīkṣit did.
  16. Such knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be achieved by a faithful person who believes firmly in Kṛṣṇa. One is called a faithful man who thinks that simply by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he can attain the highest perfection.

    SB 2.6.32

By His will, I create, Lord Śiva destroys, and He Himself, in His eternal form as the Personality of Godhead, maintains everything. He is the powerful controller of these three energies.

The conception of one without a second is clearly confirmed here. The one is Lord Vāsudeva, and only by His different energies and expansions are different manifestations, both in the material and in the spiritual worlds, maintained. In the material world also, Lord Vāsudeva is everything, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19). Vāsudeva sarvam iti: everything is Vāsudeva only. In the Vedic hymns also the same Vāsudeva is held to be supreme. It is said in the Vedas, vāsudevāt paro brahman na cānyo ’rtho ’sti tattvataḥ: in fact there is no greater truth than Vāsudeva. And Lord Kṛṣṇa affirms the same truth in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.7). Matta paratara nānyat: “There is nothing above Me [Lord Kṛṣṇa].” So the conception of oneness, as overly stressed by the impersonalist, is also accepted by the personalist devotee of the Lord. 

This is explained in 7.8 of BG. Rasoham apsu Kaunteya… 

BG 7.8 

O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.

The impersonalist perceives the presence of the Lord in water by its taste, and the personalist also glorifies the Lord for His kindly supplying tasty water to quench man’s thirst. That is the way of perceiving the Supreme. Practically speaking, there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction. Therefore Lord Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya bheda- and abheda-tattva – simultaneous oneness and difference.

Whenever we talk about the energies of the Lord is impersonal. In Spiritual world the energies of the Lord appear non different than Him. In material world the energies of the Lord appear different from Him. 

Yesterday we talked about Teleology. Nature creates by Themselves. They do not know that Krsna is the one who is behind Nature.  When we see the Sun – there is light and heat. We cannot separate them. They are all together Sun. Tree – Roots, branches, fruits… variety in the tree, they all together is the tree. The lemon is the transformation of energy of the tree. Roots, leaves, fruits they are the expansions of the tree. But they are all together tree. 

BG 9.11

There are also many impersonalists who deride temple worship. They say that since God is everywhere, why should one restrict himself to temple worship? But if God is everywhere, is He not in the temple or in the Deity? Although the personalist and the impersonalist will fight with one another perpetually, a perfect devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows that although Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, He is all-pervading, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Although His personal abode is Goloka Vṛndāvana and He is always staying there, by His different manifestations of energy and by His plenary expansion He is present everywhere in all parts of the material and spiritual creation.

If you want overide racism, prejudice, violence due to color, ethnicity…THis is what the kids should learn. Lord is in the heart of every living entity. 

A devotee should see that because Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone’s heart as Paramātmā, every body is the embodiment or the temple of the Supreme Lord; so as one offers respect to the temple of the Lord, he should similarly properly respect each and every body in which the Paramātmā dwells. Everyone should therefore be given proper respect and should not be neglected.

In BG 6.30 

yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra

sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati

tasyāhaṁ na praṇaśyāmi

sa ca me na praṇaśyati

For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.

BG 6.31

Such a yogī, who engages in the worshipful service of the Supersoul, knowing that I and the Supersoul are one, remains always in Me in all circumstances.

BG 6.32

He is a perfect yogī who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!

These verses unify the living entities and why one should discriminate based on ethnicity… race, color… 

The difference is that the impersonalist denies personality in the ultimate issue, whereas the devotee gives more importance to the Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains this truth in the verse under discussion: Lord Vāsudeva is one without a second, but because He is all-powerful, He can expand Himself as well as display His omnipotencies. The Lord is described here as omnipotent by three energies (tri-śakti-dhṛk). So primarily His three energies are internal, marginal and external. 

BG 7.11, BG 9.10 

CC – Ekale Krsna 

There is nothing supreme to Krsna. He is the absolute truth. 

What happens when we believe this and follow this – 

SB 2.1.10 

A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is he who believes sincerely that by becoming a devotee of the Lord one becomes fully equipped with everything spiritual. This teaching is imparted by the Lord Himself in the pages of the Bhagavad-gītā, in which it is clearly described that the Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) is everything, and that to surrender unto Him solely and wholly makes one the most perfectly pious man. This unflinching faith in Lord Kṛṣṇa prepares one to become a student of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and one who hears Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a devotee like Śukadeva Gosvāmī is sure to attain salvation at the end, as Mahārāja Parīkit did. The professional reciter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the pseudodevotees whose faith is based on one week’s hearing are different from Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Śrīla Vyāsadeva explained Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam unto Śukadeva Gosvāmī from the very beginning of the janmādy asya verse, and so Śukadeva Gosvāmī also explained it to the King. Lord Kṛṣṇa is described as the Mahāpuruṣa in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Canto Eleven) in His devotional feature as Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself in His devotional attitude, descended to the earth to bestow special favors upon the fallen souls of this Age of Kali. There are two verses particularly suitable to offer as prayers to this Mahāpuruṣa feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa:

This is also described in Bg 4th chapter

BG 4.39 

A faithful man who is dedicated to transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses is eligible to achieve such knowledge, and having achieved it he quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace.

Such knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be achieved by a faithful person who believes firmly in Kṛṣṇa. One is called a faithful man who thinks that simply by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he can attain the highest perfection. This faith is attained by the discharge of devotional service and by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, which cleanses one’s heart of all material dirt. Over and above this, one should control the senses. A person who is faithful to Kṛṣṇa and who controls the senses can easily attain perfection in the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness without delay.

If you have the faith that Krsna is the supreme personality of Godhead and have the knowledge that Krsna is the supreme personality of Godhead and act in KC you will get liberated in this world. By regular hearing one develops that faith. 

This external energy is also displayed in the three modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. Similarly, the internal potency is also displayed in three spiritual modes — saṁvit, sandhinī and hlādinī. The marginal potency, or the living entities, is also spiritual (prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām), but the living entities are never equal to the Lord. The Lord is nirasta-sāmya-atiśaya; in other words, no one is greater than or equal to the Supreme Lord. So the living entities, including even such great personalities as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, are all subordinate to the Lord. In the material world also, in His eternal form of Viṣṇu, He maintains and controls all the affairs of the demigods, including Brahmā and Śiva.

Here we have the top expert in the material world tell us – who God is and how material world is created. Secondary creation is done by Brahma. Primary creation is done by Srila Prabhupada. 

Faith keeps wavering… Then that means you do not have faith. If everything is alright  it is easy to have faith. If everything goes wrong even then is the test of your faith. Faith means unflinching at any point of time, 

As soon as you relax the hearing and chanting then your faith … 

It is impossible to be KC by hearing and chanting. 

HEARING AND CHANTING: 

SB 2.1.10 

Anyone who hears Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam attentively from its bona fide reciter is sure to become a sincere devotee of the Lord, who is able to award liberation. There was none so attentive as Mahārāja Parīkit in the matter of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there was none so qualified as Śukadeva Gosvāmī to recite the text of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore, anyone who follows in the footsteps of either the ideal reciter or the ideal hearer, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit respectively, will undoubtedly attain salvation like them. Mahārāja Parīkṣit attained salvation by hearing only, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī attained salvation only by reciting. Recitation and hearing are two processes out of nine devotional activities, and by strenuously following the principles, either in all or by parts, one can attain the absolute plane. So the complete text of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, beginning with the janmādy asya verse up to the last one in the Twelfth Canto, was spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī for the attainment of salvation by Mahārāja Parīkṣit. In the Padma Purāṇa, it is mentioned that Gautama Muni advised Mahārāja Ambarīṣa to hear regularly Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it was recited by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and herein it is confirmed that Mahārāja Ambarīṣa heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very beginning to the end, as it was spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One who is actually interested in the Bhāgavatam, therefore, must not play with it by reading or hearing a portion from here and a portion from there; one must follow in the footsteps of great kings like Mahārāja Ambarīa or Mahārāja Parīkit and hear it from a bona fide representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī.