KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.7.3 TODAY (09/01/21):
- The instructions of Lord Kapila to His mother Devahūti are fully described in the Third Canto (Chapters 25-32) of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and anyone who follows the instructions can achieve the same liberation obtained by Devahūti.
- The Lord spoke Bhagavad-gītā, and thereby Arjuna achieved self-realization, and even today anyone who follows the path of Arjuna can also attain the same benefit as Śrī Arjuna. The scriptures are meant for this purpose.
- Simply by following the instructions imparted by Lord Kṛṣṇa or Lord Kapila, one can obtain the highest benefit, even today.
- The word ātma-gatim is significant in the sense of perfect knowledge of the Supreme. One should not be satisfied simply by knowing the qualitative equality of the Lord and the living being.
- One should know the Lord as much as can be known by our limited knowledge. It is impossible for the Lord to be known perfectly as He is, even by such liberated persons as Śiva or Brahmā, so what to speak of other demigods or men in this world.
- By following the principles of the great devotees and the instructions available in the scriptures, one can know to a considerable extent the features of the Lord.
- His Lordship Kapila, the incarnation of the Lord, instructed His mother fully about the personal form of the Lord, and thereby she realized the personal form of the Lord and was able to achieve a place in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka where Lord Kapila predominates.
- Every incarnation of the Lord has His own abode in the spiritual sky. Therefore Lord Kapila also has His separate Vaikuṇṭha planet. The spiritual sky is not void. There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and in each of them the Lord, by His innumerable expansions, predominates, and the pure devotees who are there also live in the same style as the Lord and His eternal associates.
- The impersonal conception of the supreme truth is just a process of negation of the form of the Lord from the mundane conception of the supreme truth.
- The living entities, by their very constitution, are spiritually as good as the Lord, and the only difference between them is that the Lord is always supreme and pure, without contamination by the modes of material nature, whereas the living entities are apt to be contaminated by association with the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance.
- This contamination by the material modes can be washed off completely by knowledge, renunciation and devotional service.
- Devotional service to the Lord is the ultimate issue, and therefore those who are directly engaged in the devotional service of the Lord not only acquire the necessary knowledge in spiritual science, but also attain detachment from material connection and are thus promoted to the kingdom of God by complete liberation.
- Even in the nonliberated stage, a living entity can be directly engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa or His plenary expansions like Rāma and Narasiṁha.
- Thus, with the proportionate improvement of such transcendental devotional service, the devotee makes definite progress toward brahma-gatim or ātma-gatim, and ultimately attains kapilasya gatim, or the abode of the Lord, without difficulty.
- Letter to Indrani – You are very fortunate to have found contact with Krsna through Krsna consciousness movement and, yes, peace is only to be found where there is Krsna consciousness.
- Letter to Ekayani – All questions will be clarified if you simply read our books very thoroughly and follow the simple process of devotional service as we have given it to chant regularly and rigidly observe the rules and regulations.
- This is our principle that the spiritual science becomes revealed to the devotee from within the heart according to the degree of his surrender to Krsna.
- The antiseptic potency of devotional service to the Lord is so great that it can neutralize the material infection even in the present life of a devotee. A devotee does not need to wait for his next birth for complete liberation.
SB 2.7.3
The Lord then appeared as the Kapila incarnation, being the son of the prajāpati brāhmaṇa Kardama and his wife, Devahūti, along with nine other women [sisters]. He spoke to His mother about self-realization, by which, in that very lifetime, she became fully cleansed of the mud of the material modes and thereby achieved liberation, the path of Kapila.
Purport
The instructions of Lord Kapila to His mother Devahūti are fully described in the Third Canto (Chapters 25-32) of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and anyone who follows the instructions can achieve the same liberation obtained by Devahūti. The Lord spoke Bhagavad-gītā, and thereby Arjuna achieved self-realization, and even today anyone who follows the path of Arjuna can also attain the same benefit as Śrī Arjuna. The scriptures are meant for this purpose. Foolish, unintelligent persons make their own interpretations by imagination and thus mislead their followers, causing them to remain in the dungeon of material existence. However, simply by following the instructions imparted by Lord Kṛṣṇa or Lord Kapila, one can obtain the highest benefit, even today.
The word ātma-gatim is significant in the sense of perfect knowledge of the Supreme. One should not be satisfied simply by knowing the qualitative equality of the Lord and the living being. One should know the Lord as much as can be known by our limited knowledge. It is impossible for the Lord to be known perfectly as He is, even by such liberated persons as Śiva or Brahmā, so what to speak of other demigods or men in this world. Still, by following the principles of the great devotees and the instructions available in the scriptures, one can know to a considerable extent the features of the Lord. His Lordship Kapila, the incarnation of the Lord, instructed His mother fully about the personal form of the Lord, and thereby she realized the personal form of the Lord and was able to achieve a place in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka where Lord Kapila predominates. Every incarnation of the Lord has His own abode in the spiritual sky.
SP letter to Ekayani dasi – 25th july 1970 – (https://vedabase.io/en/library/letters/letter-to-ekayani-5/)
So far the Avataras are concerned there are two types. One is called nitya and the other is called naimittic. Nitya means eternal and namittic Avataras appear for some specific function in the material worlds. Nitya Avataras have their eternal abodes in the spiritual sky from which they may sometimes descend to the material worlds, but naimittic Avataras are expansions of Nitya Avataras for some timely purpose. So the non-human forms of Avataras do not have their planets in the spiritual sky.
Lord Brahma has an eternal planet, Lord Shiva has an eternal planet..
I am very glad to know that you are reading our literatures and you are very thoughtful about them. I am always happy to answer your questions, but you should practice to get the answers from your husband and try to find them out by reading further in our books. All questions will be clarified if you simply read our books very thoroughly and follow the simple process of devotional service as we have given it to chant regularly and rigidly observe the rules and regulations. This is our principle that the spiritual science becomes revealed to the devotee from within the heart according to the degree of his surrender to Krsna. You are a very hopeful student and intelligent devotee, so you continue to pursue your devotional activities patiently and Krsna will open your path of Krsna consciousness so you will progress more and more.
BG 4.11 (ye yata mam… ), – As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.
SB Canto Intro page 17 – He responds to the proportion of the devotee’s affection for Him.
Letter to Teyijas May 20th 1970 (https://vedabase.io/en/library/letters/letter-to-tejiyas/)- The Lord He will reveal himself to you in proportion to your sincere efforts to satisfy Him only.
SB 1.8.17 – Lord reciprocates the dependence of the devotee
It all depends on our surrender to Krsna. The ultimate verse of BG is saranam. Mama Ekam Saranam Vraja.. Surrender only to Krsna nothing else.
Letter to Indrani (https://vedabase.io/en/library/letters/letter-to-indrani/)
My Dear Daughter Indrani,
Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter dated Berlin, 13rd July, 1970, and I am so glad also to learn that you have nicely appreciated our Sankirtana movement and now you are married to one of our devotees, Krsna das.
You are very fortunate to have found contact with Krsna through Krsna consciousness movement and, yes, peace is only to be found where there is Krsna consciousness. I have been very happy to accept you as my initiated disciple and your spiritual name is Indrani devi Dasi. Indrani is the wife of Indra the king of the heavenly planet. I have received your beads and have duly chanted upon them. Now they are returned to you by separate air post.Please follow all the rules and regulations of Krsna consciousness and chant at least sixteen rounds of beads daily, chant Hare Krsna mantra always, go on Sankirtana as often as possible and be happy. I know that you are a very suitable match for Krsna das. You are both young, intelligent and sincere devotees. So please work combinedly with great enthusiasm to establish our branch of ISKCON in Berlin. That is my desire.
Regarding your question why does the moon appear in pictures of Krsna yet the abode of Krsna is described as having no need of sunlight or moonlight, the answer is that these pictures show Krsna as He appeared in Vrndavana 5,000 years ago. It may be understood therefore that it is the moon of this world which is seen along with Krsna in these pictures. Please try to read our literatures very carefully and try to understand the philosophy with the help of your good husband.
Therefore Lord Kapila also has His separate Vaikuṇṭha planet. The spiritual sky is not void. There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and in each of them the Lord, by His innumerable expansions, predominates, and the pure devotees who are there also live in the same style as the Lord and His eternal associates.
When the Lord descends personally or by His personal plenary expansions, such incarnations are called aṁśa, kalā, guṇa, yuga and manvantara incarnations, and when the Lord’s associates descend by the order of the Lord, such incarnations are called śaktyāveśa incarnations. But in all cases all the incarnations are supported by the invulnerable statements of the authorized scriptures, and not by any imagination of some self-interested propagandist. Such incarnations of the Lord, in either of the above categories, always declare the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the ultimate truth. The impersonal conception of the supreme truth is just a process of negation of the form of the Lord from the mundane conception of the supreme truth.
Krishna’s form is not subjected to the mundane conception of the lord’s form. They put forward a straw man argument.. They say Krsna has a material body. The whole thing is false. A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false one.[1] One who engages in this fallacy is said to be “attacking a straw man”.
Maharaj sent a letter to GBC about the raging debate on female diksha gurus. CC ADI 1.35 & 47 – explains Siksha and diksha gurus are equal. One senior devotee said the shiksha guru is an informal position.. They set up a straw man argument. They make their own things up. “Informal fallacy” means if it is false it does not have any substance to it. BHakti Vinod Thakur accepted Jagannath Babaji is it informal? No it is not, BVT accepted him as his guru and depended on him to show where Caitanya Mahaprabhu was there…
The real subject is Krsna’s body is not mundane material body & Siksha guru is not informal. Tell where ins sastra it is said that siksha guru is informal. Srila Prabhupada is the siksha guru of everyone in this movement. Is our relationship with SP informal? Informal if you want to follow you follow or you do not follow.
The mayavadis say Krsna has material world and is influenced by the modes.
The living entities, by their very constitution, are spiritually as good as the Lord, and the only difference between them is that the Lord is always supreme and pure, without contamination by the modes of material nature, whereas the living entities are apt to be contaminated by association with the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. This contamination by the material modes can be washed off completely by knowledge, renunciation and devotional service. Devotional service to the Lord is the ultimate issue,
We discussed yesterday that the purpose of hearing BG & SB and reading Srila Prabhupada purports is to get convinced that the rest of my life I live doing devotional service. All the spare time I have and eventually every minute I want to spend in doing devotional service. That is the purpose. Constant dev service, constant thinking about the service of the service of the lord.
and therefore those who are directly engaged in the devotional service of the Lord not only acquire the necessary knowledge in spiritual science, but also attain detachment from material connection and are thus promoted to the kingdom of God by complete liberation, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.26):
māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
Even in the nonliberated stage, a living entity can be directly engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa or His plenary expansions like Rāma and Narasiṁha.
This is the special mercy of Lord Caitanya, nowhere this is taught.
Thus, with the proportionate improvement of such transcendental devotional service, the devotee makes definite progress toward brahma-gatim or ātma-gatim, and ultimately attains kapilasya gatim, or the abode of the Lord, without difficulty. The antiseptic potency of devotional service to the Lord is so great that it can neutralize the material infection even in the present life of a devotee. A devotee does not need to wait for his next birth for complete liberation.